


Hunting Ghosts for Clout: a Heejin, Chaewon and Yeojin production

by Maki_Ayase



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, Ghost Hunters, Idaho, Magic, Supernatural Elements, crack fic kinda, loona!vampires, ooh also witches!!, there will be more ships but im not about to spoil tf, vampire triplets, yes this is a vampire fic, youtuber Heejin gowon and yeojin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24413077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maki_Ayase/pseuds/Maki_Ayase
Summary: Youtubers Jeon Heejin, Park Chaewon and Im Yeojin find themselves in an old castle searching for ghosts. As Paranormal Investigators, the trio helps ghosts let go of their past for views, which sometimes puts them in precarious situations.Having heard of a ghost sighting in Idaho, the girls travel to a remote town in the mountains in search of the shadow people scaring the villagers.Spoiler alert: they didn't find shadow people.
Relationships: Choi Yerim | Choerry/Im Yeojin, Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Park Chaewon | Go Won/Son Hyejoo | Olivia Hye
Comments: 90
Kudos: 507





	1. Wikihow search bar: what happens when fantasy becomes real? asked by Jeon Heejin

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the triplet pics on twitter and the girls were perfect for the role. By the way if you haven't seen them, here's a link: https://twitter.com/tripletloona/status/1265763200684998656

“On God, Chaewon, if you don’t give me that plate-“

“What? You’ll summon Gary with the board?”

“I can’t believe this is my career.”

“Smile for the camera, guys!”

“Yeojin, really?”

Heejin shook her head, defeated. She looked around the little restaurant as Chaewon grabbed a handful of fries and put it in her plate, before handing it to Yeojin. It was rather quiet for a Saturday morning, as only a couple patrons sat the counter. The waitresses passed the time by playing a game with their fingers and hitting each other with pencils. Heejin chuckled and brought her attention back to her booth.

Yeojin had taken the rest of the fries and was eating fast like powered by a yacht motor. Chaewon adjusted her sitting position on the red cushion and elbowed her in the ribs, frowning.

“Jesus Christ, Yeojin. Slow down, we have all day to record!”

“I’m so excited, I just can’t help it!” She replied. “Honestly, they’re gonna love it when Heejin pisses her pants again.”

“Can you not?”

“Oh get over it, Heejin. That video got us so many views!”

As YouTubers, the trio had to document everything they did, which unfortunately for Jeon Heejin, was recording her screaming in terror and minor accidents, like that time she fell down a bunch of old stairs and went through a wall. Yeah, thinking about it, Heejin kind of regretted her career path.

“Do you have everything you need?” A voice asked, bringing the girl back from her thoughts.

A waitress with dark blond hair tied into a half ponytail was smiling at them, holding a platter with one hand. She had tied her white apron around her waist, and the business’s name was printed in black on it. The pin on her shirt read “Jungeun”.

“Yeah, actually, we need some information. Are you busy?” Yeojin asked, looking around.

“Not at all. How can I help you girls?”

“Is it always this empty?” Chaewon asked, frowning.

“Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of people in this town,” Jungeun explained, pursing her lips. “The vibe is a bit off, and it doesn’t attract many visitors, hence the low clientele.”

The trio glanced at each other and smiled. Their research was correct: This town was the perfect place for their next video.

“We heard a few rumours going around. Is it true that there are shadow people in the castle in the mountain?”

“Yeojin, oh my God!” Chaewon exclaimed, hitting the back of the girl’s head. “You can’t just say shit like that!”

“That’s okay, we get that a lot,” Jungeun said. “Are you interested in the old legend, then?”

“We’re paranormal investigators, actually,” Heejin said, puffing her chest. “We visit haunted houses and record it on camera. We’re YouTubers.”

Jungeun rose her eyebrows and glanced back at the counter. No one was around, so she sat down next to Heejin and took her cellphone from her pocket.

“Are you guys the  _ Hunting Ghost For Clout _ trio?”

“Yeah, that’s us!” Chaewon said, proudly crossing her arms over her chest and smiling.

“You guys are so funny, honestly, Yeojin talking that poltergeist out of dropping that chandelier on Chaewon was gold! How are you not dead by now?”

“I ask myself this question every day,” Heejin said, shaking her head.

Jungeun smiled and looked around again to see if no one was around, and she typed something on her phone before nodding to herself and reading off her screen.

“The legend is that the old castle is inhabited by the spirits of the old king’s daughters. There was a witch hunt in this town centuries ago, and all those who participated died in mysterious circumstances afterwards. The daughters died tormented by the disappearance of the king and haunt the castle in search of him.”

“That’s perfect! An old castle like this is sure to inhabit spirits,” Yeojin said, raising her fist in the air.

“How did you guys end up doing that, anyway?” Jungeun asked. “Do you actually talk with ghosts?”

It was true that their little trio was out of the ordinary. They looked very different, the blonde clad in pastel colours while Heejin was in all black with a green flannel. Yeojin was, as usual, sporting her garlic belt, along with her aluminium foil bracelet and crystal necklace. It wasn’t every day you met day and night and their gremlin little sister.

As for supernatural elements, Heejin had the gift (or misfortune, really) of seeing spirits, while Yeojin could only communicate with them. None of them knew why and how that came to happen. A vivid memory of Heejin’s was the sight of her grandfather at his funeral when she was five years old. She couldn’t talk to him, but she played with him the whole time. It was honestly so confusing. For her part, Chaewon was in charge of research and getting contracts from people with haunted houses.

“I can’t, but those two can,” Chaewon said, shrugging. “We met in college and decided to use their psychic powers to get views on the internet. People love that shit, so we just went with it. Now it’s our job, and we even get requests!”

Jungeun shook her head. “That’s crazy.”

“Has anyone ever been up there?” Heejin asked.

“Not that I know. People only stay here for the pyre or if they’re travelling. The recent reports of people seeing shadows pushes them away. This town is honestly kind of creepy. If I could, I’d gladly get out.”

This town was famous for the castle-like architecture in the village, as well as the preservation of the old pyre. They had driven past it while coming to the restaurant, and Heejin couldn’t help but tremble at the sight. Jungeun smiled and got up, bowing her head a little.

“I’m glad I could help. If you find anything, come back here! My friend Jiwoo really likes your channel.”

She walked back to the counter, where a girl with red hair tied into two low pigtails was rinsing a glass. Not a single client had come in during their exchange, and Heejin sighed, shaking her head.

“She’s right, this town gives me the creeps. I’m sure there’s more than just ghosts here.”

“Honestly, the shadow people we heard about could be the witches,” Yeojin said, tilting her head.

“Yeojin, witches don’t exist. Ghosts are part of the aura, not magic.”

“That’s not what Lady Yenica said, right Heejin?”

Chaewon rolled her eyes at the mention of the ghost they had met in Maine and got up, motioning at the others to follow. They dropped a few bills on the table and left, waving at Jungeun. Yeojin skipped along the sidewalk, while Chaewon looked around, examining the old architecture. It was a well-preserved town, it was as if they were walking in a modern Middle Ages stronghold. Even the streets were in cobblestone. Heejin looked up, moving her attention to the main reason they were here. The peaks of the castle were hidden in the fog, and the gloomy fortress stood still at the bottom of the mountain. The few people walking eyed the youngest girl, who was running around and trying to smack the signs hovering above the little shops down the street.

“So, who’s ready to kick some shadow people butt?”

“We’ve never been in a castle before, so that’s sure to bring a larger audience. The ghost of three princesses isn’t so scary. What do you say, Heejin?”

The girl didn’t answer. Their car was parked around a large fountain since there were no parking spots anywhere else. The waitress’s words came to her mind, and she shivered as a bad feeling made her purse her lips.

“This place is different. Are we sure we want to go up there?”

“Are you scared? Gonna cry? Gonna piss your pants maybe?”

“Fuck you, Chae. I’m really not feeling it today.”

“Well too bad, we’re going in anyway.”

The blonde glanced at her friend, and seeing her pout, she sighed, shoving her slightly to the side.

“Cheer up, Heeks. You can just point to where the ghost is and you can hide behind me, or something.”

“Thanks. And sorry for ruining the mood.”

“Whatever. You can buy me a taco when we come back down.”

Heejin chuckled, and Chaewon smiled. They met with Yeojin, who was waiting for them at the car. The beat-up (by many poltergeists) white Honda Civic had a hard time starting, but it managed to pull through (no thanks to Yeojin slamming her foot on the defective airbag). They made their way to the path to the mountain, Heejin shaking her head. She had a horrible feeling about this.

***

Heejin twirled around with the camera in hand, capturing every little detail in the Bailey with the lens. The grass and plants covered the ground, hiding broken pieces of rock all over. The few houses boarding the wall were destroyed, and the left outer wall had fallen, crumbled by old age and by the harsh weather. The castle’s light grey walls were now covered in vines and dirtied with time and abandoned sets of armour were scattered around. The rest of the well was still visible, but grass and plants had grown over it. The fog was still covering the top of the three towers emerging from the centre of the structure, and the place was silent. A bit too silent. She started describing the scenery to the future viewers, bouncing around to giver herself some courage.

“We have arrived at the famous Castle of Ardismoth! Home of the family of the King of Thriviel, it is now the North of the state of Idaho, which is a big downgrade but hey! At least people don’t die from the plague anymore! Or do they?” She moved the camera to focus on her friend, who was coming out of the car. “Chaewon, do people still die of the plague?”

“Jesus Christ, why is it freezing up here?” The blonde exclaimed, rubbing her arms.

“The fog seems to block the light. Let’s bring a few coats, we don’t want to replicate the fire incident,” Yeojin said excitedly. “We almost burned the whole place down with those torches last time.”

“And who’s idea was it, huh?” Chaewon replied.

Yeojin waved her hand to the side, shaking her head.

“Enough chit-chat! Now, to the program of today: chasing shadow people! Those types of ghosts are nasty, you guys have never seen- Heejin, focus the camera on me!”

Heejin turned around, now filming Yeojin instead of a bug on the ground. The girl smiled, posing dramatically.

“We have never filmed shadow people in action, but today! Today, we will! You guys will be afraid, it’s going to be dangerous, but we’ll make it out alive because we are…” She pointed to the sky and balled her fist, shaking her head. “We are Hunting Ghosts for Clout!”

“Is that supposed to be a reassuring speech?” Heejin asked behind the camera.

“Guys, let’s just go in.”

They looked at Chaewon, who was already standing in front of the massive wooden door. Large portions of rocks from the castle were blocking the way, and anyways, the door was too big to be pushed open. Heejin replaced the bag on her shoulders, and the ghost hunters looked around for another opening before Chaewon pointed at the Chemin de ronde.

“We could climb up there! There has to be some sort of entrance.”

“Nice thinking!” Yeojin replied.

She ran to the stairs and started climbing, her belt of garlic swishing all over the place. The two other girls followed her up the stairs and walked to a closed door. This one looked rotten, which was proven by Chaewon kicking it and it crumbling to the ground. The girl shrugged and walked in, and Heejin shook her head, not even surprised. She made sure the camera was still rolling, and they slowly walked in, Yeojin flashing her flashlight on the ground.

“We enter the hidden lair of the three sisters. There might be normal ghosts as well as the shadow people the villagers have seen, so we brought the Ouija board,” Yeojin whispered, narrating.

There were a few spider webs, but not as much as they thought. The girls looked at each other, frowning. They continued to walk, following the circular corridor to the Keep. Heejin frowned, noticing all the debris pushed to the sides of the main room. Up a few stairs, there was an old throne free of dust and debris. She looked up at the high ceiling, squinting her eyes. There was an antique chandelier hanging from the top, and for some reason, all the candles were lit. Heejin clenched her teeth, looking around her. The crushing silence scared her, and her heart felt heavy in her chest like someone was squeezing it.

“This is really weird, guys. You know this is weird, right?” She asked, her hands trembling.

“Let’s just go to the centre. Heejin, lookout as always,” Chaewon said, taking the camera away from her hands.

Yeojin sat down in the middle of the room and took the Ouija board from her bag and a few white candles. The blonde took a seat next to her, and Heejin sat close to them, looking around in fear. First, the blonde drew the protective circle around them so no one could get hurt, and Yeojin lighted the candles and placed them all around the circle.

“The first part is done. Remember guys, before messing with invisible forces, always protect yourselves!” Chaewon said, turning the camera towards herself. “You never know when someone could ghost-strangle you!”

She focused on Heejin, who was whipping her head around. “Are you still scared?”

“Of course, I am! Have you ever seen a well-maintained centuries-old castle before? This is legit fucking creepy!”

“Honestly, Heejin is kinda right,” Yeojin agreed, waving her lighter. “Which is why we’re sure to encounter shadow people!”

“At this rate, vampires could live here…” Heejin mumbled, digging her chin in her raised knees.

Yeojin inhaled loudly and bent over the Ouija board, putting one hand on the planchette and forcefully dragged Heejin’s hand to put it on it too. Chaewon did it herself, and Yeojin looked at the camera the blonde was holding.

“Remember guys, for the incantation, never state your name, or ghosts will have gained some power over you. Today we’re using the Ouija board to start things slowly, but remember that you can’t summon demons with that stuff!”

She closed her eyes and started the incantation, and Heejin looked around for anything sus. They moved the planchette in little circles, “gathering the energy”, as Chaewon like to call it.

“Together here are gathered the Hunting Ghost for Clout trio. We are asking any entity resident here to appear before us so that we can talk. Just chit-chat, you know.”

They waited a few minutes, and nothing happened. Chaewon looked at Heejin, who shook her head, a bit relieved.

“Our first question is this: I KNOW YOU SHADOW PEOPLE ARE HERE, FUCKERS! SHOW YOURSELVES!” Yeojin screamed.

“Are you fucking serious?” Chaewon yelled, taking her hand away from the board. “Are you FUCKING serious right now?”

“What? You know people like it when I scream.”

“Feel the room, asshole! This is some serious shit!” Heejin exclaimed.

“You know what, fuck this.”

Chaewon got up and walked out of the protection circle, shaking her head. “You do this every time, and I end up chased by poltergeists and dangerous dead people! Remember Ted Bundy, huh? I got chased by fucking Ted Bundy, bro! Oh, and Michael Jackson! Remember that one?”

“Calm down, Chaewon-“

“I will not! We’ve never seen shadow people! What if they decide that you’re an idiot and kill you? You need to think before you do stupid shit!”

She was about to say something else, but a shadow zoomed in front of them and slammed the blonde to the ground with a loud thud. Heejin started screaming in terror, and Yeojin got up. Still, before she could run, another form jumped on Chaewon, pushing the shadow away.

“Do not contest my directives, sister!”

“You do not speak for me. I can finally rejoice with a fresh meal, I will not let go.”

Heejin widened her eyes at the scene happening in front of her. Two barefoot women about their age were glaring at each other, one with long dark red hair in a white dress crouched in front of Chaewon, and the other with long black hair wearing a light blue dress standing a few feet away, hissing and showing her teeth. Her really, really pointy teeth. Heejin blinked, her mouth wide open. For once, Yeojin was silent, but she slowly picked up the dropped camera and started recording. The one with red hair moved away from Chaewon, who was slowly getting up, frowning. Heejin put her index on her lips, and Chaewon nodded.

“They are armed. If you eat, they will slay you,” the woman said, pointing at Yeojin.

Heejin looked at her friend, but the only thing she had on her was her garlic and stakes belt hanging from her shoulder.

“Nonsense! You and she are here to protect me! Or is it that you are jealous, perhaps?”

“You have me laughing! If I desired a meal, I would go down to the village.”

“You fear them, you would never.”

“With reason. We are not meant to speak with them.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt your victorian speeches, but are you guys shadow people? Because I can see you, and usually my friend here is the only one that can do that,” Yeojin said, putting a hand on her hip.

Heejin tried her best not to jump on her and strangle her, and she looked at Chaewon, who had balled her fists and closed her eyes, her face red with anger. The two women looked at Yeojin with a mix of disbelief and amusement. The one with black hair smiled, walking to the protection circle.

“To say the truth, I have never seen this kind of expertise. It does not help that our slumber lasted years,” she added, moving her hand to the side. “Sister, would you look at this intricate spell?”

“The witches have left, Hyejoo,” the woman growled, still crouching. “They certainly are not one of them. We do not know how long it has been, but we know they left us to decay here.”

The woman named Hyejoo smiled again, squinting her eyes.

“Well, what year is it, girls? Speak, or I eat your friend.”

“2020, ma’am!” Heejin exclaimed.

Hyejoo frowned and backed away, looking at her sister. The red-haired woman widened her eyes, shaking her head.

“This cannot be. They wouldn’t be so cruel as to do such a thing. She was friends with one of them, could she… how…”

“We did nothing wrong! How could they?” Hyejoo exclaimed, clenching her fists.

“Silence. My ears are still sensitive.”

“No, you stop speaking, Hyunjin! I refuse to stay in this place any longer! Now is time we regain what we have lost!”

“Guys, what the hell are you talking about?” Yeojin asked again in the comfort of the protective circle. “Who are you? What are you doing in this old-ass castle?”

“Yeojin, Oh my fucking God! You never shut up, do you?” Chaewon said, throwing a rock at the girl.

Hyejoo looked at the blonde, then at her sister. Hyunjin didn’t say anything, but she moved away, clearing a path. Chaewon widened her eyes, and Heejin stopped herself from peeing her pants and slapped a hand on her mouth. Hyejoo slowly crawled to their friend, and Chaewon backed up until she was back to back to a wall. She glanced at her friend and forced a smile.

“You guys suck. If that’s how I die, tell my mom I never did cocaine if someone brings it up.”

They didn’t have the heart to laugh. The woman made her way to their friend, and Heejin closed her eyes, ready for Chaewon to let out a scream. Nothing happened, and she opened one eye, finding herself holding unto Yeojin. Hyejoo was passing her fingers on Chaewon’s hands and delicately feeling her hair, then sniffed it. The blonde was paralyzed, and a slight blush covered her cheeks. Hyejoo dragged her up to her feet and glared at her.

“You are children of 2020. Help us navigate this time, and we will not kill you.”

“And how do you plan to kill us if we don’t help you guys, huh? I got all this gear!” Yeojin said.

“She’s low-key right, though,” Heejin said. “Why are guys so weird? What's with the big ass teeth?”

The deafening silence following her question was interrupted by the flap of wings, and a bat flew by them. Heejin screamed and hit the air, trying to protect her head. It flew away, before coming back down and suddenly transforming into another girl. This one had long brown hair and a light pink dress, and she was smiling brightly, her pointy teeth poking through her lips.

“Hello, nice to meet you! To answer your first question, we have your friend, therefore we can kill her!”

The YouTubers started screaming hysterically, and Heejin and Yeojin ran out of the protection circle to the door they came through. The batgirl transformed and flew to the entrance then morphed back into a girl, blocking the path. The duo kept screaming as they turned around and ran back to the centre of the room.

“Yerim, make them stop, I cannot bear more,” Hyunjin said, putting her hands on her ears.

The woman nodded at her sister and put her hands on Heejin and Yeojin’s shoulders and made them sit on the ground. She glared at them, and the duo stopped screaming. Chaewon pointed at the trio of sisters, shaking.

“What… are you?”

Hyunjin rolled her eyes and looked at her with boredom.

“Is it not evident? We are vampires.”


	2. Heathers but they are sisters and all of them are actually immortals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my bad gang i started working and it took me a while to update but here it is!

“Chae, you can’t put that in, people are gonna think we’re crazy,” Heejin said, looking closely at the screen.

“But hunting ghosts isn’t that far off! The viewers can’t see them either! ‘ _ Ghost hunt gone wrong: we found vampire triplets!!!’ _ Would be a sick thumbnail.”

“Yeah, but people are gonna think we’re faking,” Yeojin said, not looking up from her game. “The footage is defective.”

“It’s not defective, you just can’t record vampires,” Heejin said.

They were back in their hotel room, trying to edit the footage that they had recorded in the castle. The two oldest were sharing the hotel chair and arguing over which part of the video should make it unto YouTube, while the youngest lay in bed, playing Pokemon gold on her old DSi. The major problem was that just like in mirrors, you couldn’t see the triplets through the camera. All they could hear and see was Chaewon dropping to the ground, the girls screaming and old English. They had promised the women that they would come back tonight, but Yerim still came with them in bat form. She was hanging from the lamp on the nightstand with her eyes closed, but she looked at them from time to time. Heejin rubbed her arms as a chill ran through her body.

Vampires. They had met real-life vampires that almost killed them. Heejin took her phone from her pocket and went in the bathroom, closing the door to muffle the sounds of her friends arguing if they should put the video online or not. Those girls weren’t ghosts, this whole operation was way more dangerous. She lowered the lid and sat on the toilet, typing a few words in the search bar. The results were almost the same as when Jungeun had looked it up, but Heejin scrolled past the first posts, going down to read other people’s take on the legend.

@Nightsalter007:  _ Of course, not a lot of people are familiar with the history of the three sisters of Ardismoth, but I found some odd records on pdfs of the local library. We all know the witch hunts caused the killers to die early, (even that is unclear if it was really a curse) but what is vaguely mentioned is that the sisters actually disappeared. One day they were there, the next they were gone. Maybe they were actually killed! _

@Cranberry34:  _ Witches are not real _

@Deadmemes:  _ That’s bullshit, you can’t just trust a book. When was it written? Was the author there? _

@Starry_Xx_love:  _ Actually I live in the town they were from, and what @Nightsalter007 said is right. The legend says they died waiting for the king, but from old paintings and descriptions in a few archives, there were known to roam around the village. The night they disappeared, a few people not affiliated with the witch hunt died. The sisters wouldn’t just die like that, they were probably cursed too when the king died. There is also a record of people talking about witches and what they actually did. _

@Nightsalter007:  _ What do you know about the witches? @Starry_Xx_love _

@Starry_Xx_love:  _ There was a coven not far from the village, you can still visit the ruins. Sometimes, you can sense the magic residues, and recently someone saw a figure behind a tree, and when they went to check, it was gone. Recently, though, cattle have been dying a lot. I feel like the witches are finally back. _

@qwertyuiop:  _ Magic isn’t real. Paranormal stuff is fake. _

@Nightsalter007:  _ Go on Youtube and type Hunting Ghosts for Clout, idiot. There you can see proof. _

@Nightsalter007:  _ Speaking of them, they said they were going to the castle of Ardismoth to film shadow people for the first time! The first episode should be up soon. _

@Starry_Xx_love: @Nightsalter007  _ What? They shouldn’t go in, they’ll get killed. Ever since that shadow people rumour, people that go near that place disappear. _

@Nightsalter007:  _ You should contact them, then. Maybe you can help them find out about the witches and the curse. _

Heejin’s fingers trembled as she shakily created a profile and typed a question on the blog. The sisters’ words came to her mind. Hyunjin kept repeating that the witches left them, that they did something cruel to them…

@Tokkypower:  _ What if the sisters are vampires? Maybe the witches cursed them to live forever? _

She waited a few minutes, scrolling to find more stories about the castle and its history. She got a notification, and she gulped, reading the response.

@Starry_Xx_love:  _ I’ve never thought about it… But it could be a possibility. That could explain the shadow people that the villagers have seen, and the death of cattle. _

@Nightsalter007:  _ Then is there a possibility that the witches are back because the sisters have woken up? _

Heejin jumped from the seat and ran back into the room, waving her phone as she jumped on the bed.

“Guys, you need to hear this!”

“Not now, Heejin! Come help me instead!” Yeojin screamed, pulling one end of the computer while Chaewon was holding the other.

“Let it go!”

“Never!”

“Guys, this is some serious stuff. We need to find Starry love.”

The two girls stopped pulling on the computer and looked at each other, frowning.

“Chaewon did you-“

“Not this time, I got nothing on me. She must be tripping because of the vamps.”

“Guys, I’m serious!”

Heejin pulled them to her sides, showing them the comments.

“They know we’re here! We need to meet with Starry love, they could help us with this whole witch vs vampires thing!”

“We should make a quick video asking for people with info to meet us at the pyre and mention Starry love or something,” Yeojin suggested. “The viewers might be surprised, though, so we need to make it clear that we have seen some spooky shit in the castle.”

“Not bad, pipsqueak. Then tomorrow, we can go back to Jungeun to ask if she knows anything else!” Chaewon said, ruffling her hair.

“Your mom is a pipsqueak!”

“Wanna say that again?” The blonde replied, raising her fist to Yeojin’s face.

Heejin rolled her eyes, but she smiled, relieved to have her friends by her side during this whole misadventure. She looked out the window, and in the light of dusk, she had a full view of the castle, the peeks now visible as the fog had faded away. Heejin squinted, surprised to find some light behind one of the windows. When she blinked, however, it was gone.

***

“Hey guys! Our video has been delayed a bit by unforeseen circumstances, but-“

“Heejin, stop using dumb adult words! Basically, guys, we got delayed, and we need people that know more about the castle to meet us at the pyre at noon tomorrow,” Yeojin said, pushing the girl out of the way.

“So, if you know anything, please come!” Chaewon added. “For the curious ones, we already went to the castle, but we saw some wacky shit. We were unprepared, which is why we need to read about the castle history more. No spoilers, you’ll see all of it soon!”

“And that’s about it. We know this is on short notice, but we really need your help. Actually, if your name is Starry love, please come by at noon as well, we’ll be waiting!” Heejin finished.

“As always, go check out our other videos, and if you like them, leave a big thumbs up and subscribe!” Yeojin said, smiling brightly at the camera.

“Don’t forget to click on the bell so you’ll get notified when we update. Thank you all, we love you!” Heejin said.

They stopped moving for a few seconds, and Chaewon got up to stop the recording.

“That should be okay. I’ll upload it in a few minutes, and then we can go back to the castle.”

“What if-“

“Heejin, don’t even think of running away,” Yeojin said, pointing her index finger at her friend.

“Fine, whatever!”

Heejin rolled her eyes and walked to the couch, letting herself fall on her butt. The bat in the corner of the room flew from its spot, and Yerim appeared in front of them, almost giving Heejin an aneurysm. Chaewon jumped in surprise and tripped on the tripod and fell to the ground, swearing. The vampire smiled, tilting her head.

“For what purpose are you speaking to the little box? Does it happen to be a form of advanced communication?” She asked, crouching next to the camera on the ground.

“We aren’t talking to anyone right now,” Yeojin explained, helping the blonde get up. “We record ourselves talking, and then we put it online so people can watch it.”

“Recording? On a line? I do not understand.”

“Well, it’s really simple, actually. Let me show you.”

The two girls sat on the bed as Yeojin retold the exploits of Bill Gates, and Chaewon shook her head, taking a seat next to Heejin on the couch.

“This is insane.”

“Tell me about it,” Heejin said, scrolling through her phone.

“Is this a fever dream? Like for real, am I actually insane? I understand ghosts, but vampires? Witches?”

“If it’s a dream, I’m also stuck in it. Maybe we accidentally ate mushrooms at that restaurant-”

“So basically, our job is to film our encounters with ghosts,” Yeojin explained. “Of course, only Heejin can see them, but when they start moving stuff, the viewers can technically see them too. They can’t hear them, but when I talk to them, I kinda translate, y’ know?”

“This is marvellous! It is magical! My sisters would adore the idea.”

“Your sisters seem a bit… less inclined to do silly stuff,” Chaewon pointed out, the memory of the two women jumping on her crossing her mind.

“Hyunjin is very protective of us, but she is a woman with odd interests,” Yerim said, smiling. “As for Hyejoo, she is furious and pained, but she was a vivacious person once. When we were still humans-“

She hesitated and frowned as if the sentence wasn’t natural to her. She blinked a few times and continued, nodding a little.

“All of us enjoyed going down to the village in secret. It was the only time we could visit our friends.”

The vampire looked down at her feet, pinching her lips together. She shook her head and put her hands over her face. Yeojin frowned and slowly put an arm over her shoulders. The two girls sitting on the couch widened their eyes and sat to the end of their seat, focusing their attention on the immortal.

“It is all my fault,” Yerim said, the sound muffled by her hands. “Hadn’t I hurt myself, hadn’t she been there, the king would not have killed them.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault that all those witches died,” Yeojin said, rubbing her hand on her back. Heejin slapped her hand on her face, shaking her head. Yeojin really had a way with words.

“It is. My sisters did nothing wrong, yet they were wrongfully convicted along with me.”

The trio looked at each other, conflicted. Of course, all they wanted to do was to teach the vampires about the 21st century and run away as fast they could, but seeing Yerim devastated made them rethink their motivations.

“Why did the witches curse you in the first place?” Heejin asked.

“I was acquainted with one who was called Jinsoul. She had ashen hair and eyes as dark as the night sky, but I overlooked her appearance because she brought me what I was missing.”

Yerim glanced at Chaewon, who widened her eyes in surprise. The vampire didn’t say anything, but she smiled sadly.

“Our mother died when we were quite young, and my father was very harsh on us, but particularly on Hyunjin. As he had no male heir, she was trained to be one or to be married off to one. That left Hyejoo and me alone most of the time, and she was more rebellious than I was. She would leave the castle when the king was gone, leaving me alone. I was frightened by my father and kept to myself.”

Heejin frowned, angered by her story. She had no idea when that happened, maybe it was three hundred years ago, but mistreating your children was never okay. She felt for Hyunjin, as she was also burdened by the expectations of her parents. Well, now less ever since she had pursued her career in youtube. Her parents didn’t really care about her anymore.

“Jinsoul would take care of me like a mother and school me spells for her amusement. One day, I hurt myself falling from a tree, breaking my arm. She was there with me, and she used her magic to heal me. Father saw us and the guards chased her away. Following the incident, the witch hunt was put in place, and the murders commenced. Her whole clan was slain by father’s guards. The only survivors were her and the strongest of her sisters. After the villagers started passing away, the witches came to the castle and…”

Yerim blinked a few times, drying her tears. “I… do not remember. My apologies, I lost my composure.”

She got up and smoothed the wrinkles in her dress with a smile. Yeojin moved away, thrown off by her sudden change in emotion. She really had to remind herself that she was dealing with a dangerous creature after all.

“Why don’t you upload your video online? Then alas, we can go to the castle and retrieve my sisters.”

“Um, yeah…” Chaewon agreed.

She got up and plugged the camera to her computer, transferring the files. The vampire turned to the other two girls, and her gaze turned harsh, the same as her sisters. The pale light of the moon shone into her eyes, showcasing their purple colour and making her look menacing. Heejin gulped and unconsciously gripped Yeojin’s shirt.

“I beg of you, do not speak of this to my sisters. I do not want to hurt you.”

“Gotcha,” Yeojin said, quickly nodding her head.

Heejin felt a chill running down her spine as the girl smiled. Maybe getting involved with vampires wasn’t the  _ greatest _ idea they ever had. Hell, investigating the existence of witches wasn’t either. But here they were, stuck in a hotel with a shapeshifter-bloodsucker. Heejin could only laugh at her lack of luck.

***

“We meet again.”

Yeojin gulped and glanced at Yerim, who was standing next to her. The woman smiled and nodded, and Yeojin exhaled sharply.

“We brought y’all some clothes. Wanna try?”

Hyunjin and Hyejoo looked at each other, but they didn’t say a word. Chaewon opened the suitcases and slid it in front of them slowly.

“It’s so you can blend in with the rest of us. We can’t have you guys looking like ghosts.”

“I’m an expert, and she’s right,” Heejin added.

They were back in the dusty castle, the trio of YouTubers already regretting their choice. Chaewon had made sure to mark the exits in her head, and she had secretly stashed a stake in her bag. You know, just in case they would jump on her again. As always, the chandelier was lit up, making it less awkward to navigate through the walls of the fortress. Heejin did trip on the way, though, and Yeojin had made sure to record it.

“I did not hear your names the first time. Care to introduce yourselves?” Hyejoo asked.

She was sitting on the steps, whereas her sister sat on the throne, looking down at them with a careful look on her face. Heejin was way too scared the first time to have noticed how beautiful they were. All of them had sharp jawlines and piercing eyes, making Heejin blush just a little. Yeojin puffed her chest and put her hands on her hips under Yerim’s amused gaze.

“I’m Im Yeojin! You might have heard-”

“Park Chaewon, hello,” the blonde cut, clearing her throat.

“And I’m Jeon Heejin.”

Hyunjin frowned and stood up, slowly walking to them and stopped in front of Heejin. The girl noticed how the vampire’s eyes were yellow as she turned around her, and Heejin held her breath, not only scared for her life but entranced by the woman. Hyunjin was  _ very _ hot.

“Heejin of Jeon, your name… it brings a faded memory and an odd sentiment.”

She looked over to Yeojin, who straightened up under her gaze.

“Yours as well, Yeojin of Im.”

“Bah, let us not be egoist,” Hyejoo said. “Let us introduce ourselves, sisters.”

She jumped on the throne’s armrest and unto the back as if she was as light as a feather. She stood there, the light of the chandelier forming a crown of light on top of her dark hair. She gazed down at them, a grin stretched on her pale face. Her eyes glowed silver with the light of the chandelier, and she extended an arm in their direction. To Heejin’s side, Chaewon gulped audibly.

“I am Hyejoo of Ardismoth, the youngest sister. Your mere feet grate the centre of the fabulous kingdom named Thriviel.”

“My name is Hyunjin of Ardismoth, oldest princess of Thriviel,” the vampire said, standing still in front of them. “I was to inherit our father’s kingdom and rule over it like him.”

“And I am Yerim of Ardismoth!”

The trio waited for her to add something, and as she just stood there and smiled, they nodded and looked at each other, unsure if they should bow or not. They settle on a little head nod. That seemed to satisfy Hyejoo because she jumped from the throne and crouched near the suitcase and started moving the clothes around. Hyunjin didn’t move and settle on glaring at them instead, which made Heejin feel uneasy. However, Yeojin kneeled next to the vampire and brought clothes out, explaining what they were.

“That’s a hoodie! You put it over your shirt to keep warm.”

“And this?”

“That’s just a t-shirt,” Chaewon said, crossing her arms on her chest.

“What is the sorcery symbol imprinted on the fabric?”

“That? It’s the Adidas logo, obviously.”

Hyejoo looked up at the blonde, squinting her eyes. She examined her face, and the blonde hardened her gaze, trying her best not to shake. She was still offended by how the vampire had jumped on her and tried to eat her the first time they met, and Heejin and Yeojin mentally slapped their forehead at their friend’s antics. Did she want to get killed? Hyejoo finally stood up and walked around the suitcase to stand in front of the blonde, still gripping the t-shirt in one hand.

“Do you believe that I have a notion of Adidas, girl?”

“I didn’t-“

Hyejoo slowly grinned and ran a finger under Chaewon’s chin. The girl froze and inhaled sharply as the vampire tilted her head up with her finger. Heejin and Yeojin stopped moving, their eyes widened in fear.

“I like this one.”

She snapped her head at her sisters, who were silently watching the scene.

“I am claiming her.”

“We do not feed on humans,” Yerim objected, her face remaining emotionless.

“She does not mean it in that manner,” Hyunjin said, looking down at the suitcase. “What do you name this one?”

“J-Jeans,” Heejin answered, stuttering as she glanced from the vampire to her friend still stuck under Hyejoo's finger.

***

Heejin liked to watch anime. A lot. One popular action made by anime characters was bleeding from their nose when they saw someone gorgeous as if their veins in their nose had popped. Jeon Heejin’s nose didn’t bleed, but she did cover it in case it did. Hyunjin walked past her, looking down at her form-fitting clothes. She was wearing Heejin’s white top she had packed in case of an impromptu occasion, and the human had never been more grateful to herself. Hyunjin had in fact chosen the jeans, and if Heejin let her imagination run a bit, she could imagine that the vampire was actually her girlfriend borrowing her clothes.

“Close your mouth you pervert, you’re drooling,” Chaewon scolded, slapping her chin.

“Is it so wrong to want to call her bae?”

“What the hell, Heejin?”

They carefully avoided the debris in the grass as they walked across the Bailey to their car, the vampires leading the way. The moon was high in the sky, and the light was almost as bright as during a full moon. Chaewon remembered reading that one would appear in a few days in Idaho, which didn’t really comfort her. Who knew what powers vampires could gain from it?

Hyejoo was walking the furthest away from them as if she knew where the car was parked. Well, thinking about it, maybe they had watched them arrive. Chaewon squinted her eyes at the view of her grey hoodie on the girl’s body. She didn’t want to share clothes with a woman that had jumped on her to eat her flesh, but Yeojin and Heejin had glared at her as she was about to protest. It wasn’t helping that the girl had ‘claimed’ her. What did that even mean? Was she her personal fridge now? A hundred more question crossed her mind, like the fact that she wasn’t even sure if they were actual vampires. She hadn’t seen them drink blood from anyone. Maybe they were just immortal shapeshifters?

“How can all of us fit in the car?” Yeojin asked out loud, breaking the blonde’s train of thought.

They were standing around the civic as Heejin hesitated to open the door, counting the places inside with her finger. Hyunjin was protectively pushing Yerim behind her, showing her teeth at the car.

“Stand back, sister. What is this silent horse? Do you let yourselves get swallowed by him?”

“It’s called a car,” Heejin carefully explained as she opened the back seat door and sat in the car, before coming out and motioning at her intact body. “It’s not alive, it listens to us and carries us around in it.”

“What kind of sorcery-“

“All is good, sister,” Yerim said. She walked around Hyunjin and stood next to Heejin, shooting a little smile. “It carried me all the way here, and I am still living. It is truly inoffensive.”

“All of this still doesn’t answer my question,” the youngest girl said, frowning. “How are we gonna fit in?”

Yerim looked at her sisters and stayed silent. Hyejoo looked to the side as if she was thinking about something and finally shook her head. She carefully took a seat at the back as Yerim transformed into a bat and flew inside the Honda Civic to hang from a fold in her hoodie. Heejin slapped a hand on her heart, trying to contain her heart attack. Yerim really had to stop doing that.

“Well, we can squeeze in the back,” Yeojin said, “but then I’m riding shotgun!”

“Huh? No way!” Heejin screamed, running to push her away.

Yeojin made it in and slammed the door shut and locked it. Hyejoo jumped a bit in surprise and glared at the small girl, but she didn’t move from her seat. Chaewon took her position as the driver and pulled her tongue at Heejin. The girl rolled her eyes, glancing at the last vampire. Heejin blushed a little at the idea of sitting right next to her in the car, and suddenly she wasn't so against the idea of Yeojin riding shotgun.

“Sorry, we’re gonna have to be super close-“

“That is avoidable. I have noticed that you do not appreciate my sister transforming without warning, hence myself giving you a warning.”

“What do you mean?”

“Be prepared.”

Heejin frowned and nodded, but she barely had any time to think before Hyunjin vanished and was replaced by a large caramel coloured cat. The feline trotted to the car door and jumped on the empty seat, circling into a ball next to Hyejoo. Heejin blinked a few times, stunned.

“Well? Are you going to let yourself get carried by the car?” Hyejoo asked glaring at her.

Heejin quickly jumped inside and closed the door. She gulped silently and buckled her seatbelt, taking a look at the cat. It had kept Hyunjin’s yellow eyes and her solemn expression, which was comical, in a way.

“Bat, cat, and what? What’s your animal form?” Yeojin asked, turning around to look at them.

“Wolf. It would be difficult to ‘squeeze in’, as you say,” the vampire replied with a poker face.

The trio pursed their lips, silently agreeing with her. Chaewon shook her head and started the car, turning the wheel around until they were going down the little hill back to the village.

What kind of shit show were they stuck in now?


	3. witch village worms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! You seemed to like the last chapter (thank you so much!), so here's this one! Honestly, I didn't pre-write this, so I'm going along as well lmao. Inventing lore is hard, but I'll try not to make too many loopholes hahaha
> 
> kitty hyunjin= the love of my life
> 
> Thank you for all your lovely comments <3

“Hey miss vampire, can you hold this for me?”

“You may address me as princess Hye-“

Yeojin dumped the camera in Hyejoo’s hands before the woman even had the time to finish, then tugged at Heejin’s arm, so she was in the shot.

“Hello, guys! We are currently riding in the car with our three friends we found in the castle. Hyunjin, Yerim and Hyejoo behind the camera! Say hi!”

“They can’t say hi, they’re a bat and a cat, idiot,” Chaewon huffed from beside her.

“Yeojin, stop pulling on my sleeve!”

Hyejoo turned the camera around and accidentally put her finger on the lens, not that she knew that it was a bad thing to do. They were driving to the village, leaving the old grey castle behind. The trio of YouTubers hadn’t asked, but they had figured that like real vampires, the girls couldn’t go out in the sun. There was no street lamp to guide their way out, so Chaewon had to squint her eyes to make out the turns in the forest. On top of that, they had forgotten to change the headlights before driving to Idaho, too excited to film the shadow people.

“What does ‘hi’ mean?” Hyejoo asked, tilting the camera some more.

“It’s a way to say hello,” Heejin said.

“What does hello mean, then?”

“You know, it’s how you greet someone. Hello, then goodbye.”

Hyejoo frowned and squinted her eyes, her gaze shifting to the side as she thought of something.

“You pronounce these words when you meet with friends, yes?”

“Yep.”

“Truly, language has changed very much.”

“What do you say, then?” Yeojin asked, turning around in her seat to face them.

She repositioned the camera in Hyejoo’s hand and waved to make sure it was recording.

“Well, it might be said that I am glad to meet you here, sir or madam. When we part ways, I would say farewell,” Hyejoo explained, swatting Yeojin away. “It has come to my attention that you speak more than casually to each other. You allow yourselves to be violent like savages as well. I quite enjoy the sight of your many quarrels, it reminds me of the commoners that would visit the castle.”

“She’s talking about you throwing a rock at me in the castle,” Yeojin said, shoving Chaewon to the side.

The blonde swerved the car to the left and swore out loud, slapping Yeojin back.

“Are you insane? I’m driving in the dark!”

Hyejoo ignored the commotion and looked on the display screen and moved the camera to focus on Hyunjin. The cat didn’t move, so she pointed it at Yerim. The bat flew to Yeojin’s headrest, getting closer to the fight. If Heejin squinted her eyes enough, it was like the bat was smiling. Hyejoo pointed the camera at the two girls fighting and giggled a bit when Chaewon hit the younger girl in the throat.

“Can you see the cat?” Heejin asked.

She was trying her best not to pet Hyunjin as she didn’t know how the vampire would react, but it was really hard. Her fur looked so fluffy, and her big ears kept twitching. Her claws were dug into the bench, but Heejin didn’t mind, as many other things had already dug little holes in the fabric. She remembered that one cursed wooden box with edged so sharp it kept cutting her fingers. She had dropped it a few times on the bench, and she could see one of the holes right under Hyunjin’s tail. God, if she got started with cursed items-

“With the strange box? Only you appear.”

“Damn,” Heejin cursed, shaking her head. “I thought that maybe in animal form, it would work.”

“How can you see clearly through the glass when the other side is hindered by the circular tail?” Hyejoo asked, pointing the focus mode switch.

“2020 technology. Even I don’t understand it,” Heejin replied as she shrugged.

Hyejoo grimaced and put the camera down.

“Do you intend to make us appear when you look through the glass?”

“Yes, that’s the reason why we came here. It’s recording right now, actually. People said that shadow people were inhabiting your castle, so we came to chase them away and film them. We didn’t expect… well, real-life vampires.”

“I reckon that it is a queer sight to behold.”

“Yo, you shouldn’t say that,” Heejin said.

“Why not?” Hyejoo replied, frowning at her.

Heejin gulped and smiled awkwardly. Getting eaten wasn’t really part of her plan.

“It’s been reclaimed by gay people, now it doesn’t mean the same thing.”

“Only a happy person can use that word? That is ridiculous.”

“No, oh my god, do you know what the word homosexual means?”

The vampire tensed up and looked at her for a few seconds without saying anything. Heejin gulped again, realizing that in her time, they still probably considered LGBT people as witches.

“I mean, gay means homosexual. Queer is an adjective that people used to describe homosexuals a few decades back, but now gay people use to describe themselves. It’s something that I, for example, can use because I like girls, you understand?”

“Heejin, can you stop talking about your underlying love for women for ONE SECOND?” Chaewon asked, glaring at her in the mirror.

“I’m explaining what it means to be oppressed, Chae! You should thank me!”

Hyejoo looked thrown back by her honesty, but she slowly nodded, still silent.

The finally emerged from the forest, the light of the moon helping Chaewon navigate to the first houses. They drove on the dirt road until the bumps of the cobblestone road forced the blonde to slow down, and Hyunjin opened her eyes and stretched on the bench before jumping on the centre console. Hyejoo leaned to the side to look outside, bringing bat-Yerim closer to the window. The vampires were silent as the car made its way to the fortified town, and Hyejoo clenched her jaw when they drove under the arch leading to the centre of the village.

The human trio didn’t say anything, sensing a tense vibe in the car. Inside the walls, a few street lamps illuminated the closed stores and houses and shot flickers of orange light in the fountain. Chaewon drove around and continued to the other side, looking back at them with the mirror. The vampires didn’t say anything to stop her, so she exhaled silently and drove towards the pyre.

Heejin really hated the monument. She didn’t understand why it was still there after so many years, or why the villagers had decided to rebuild it after it had burned. The sheer amount of ghosts she could see circling the wooden structure at night made her close her eyes and look away. She heard Yeojin whimper and the soft slap of her hands on her ears. Heejin could only imagine the screams that the younger girl had to listen to, and she reached to shake Chaewon’s shoulder so she could go faster.

“Tell the car to stop.”

Heejin looked at Hyejoo, who was gripping unto her arm. Her silver eyes were clouded with an odd expression the human couldn’t quite put her finger on, and Chaewon pressed on the brakes, slowly bringing them to a stop. Hyejoo looked around and clawed at the window, then started hitting it, incapable of opening the door. Heejin quickly opened it for her, and the girl jumped out, bringing her bat sister in her hand. Heejin opened her door and ran after them, making sure to look at her feet to avoid the intense stares of the dead. From the corner of her eye, she saw the youngest sister throw Yerim in the air, and the girl transformed, landing on her feet. Hyunjin ran past her in human form and joined her sister at the base of the pyre. Heejin felt the air leaving her lungs as she walked through the dead crowd.

“Why is it still standing?” Hyunjin asked, her voice trembling.

“It has been centuries…” Hyejoo whispered, looking up at the wooden pole sticking out in the centre of the construction.

Yerim was looking up, but she wasn’t saying anything. Heejin thought of her story and felt bad for her, knowing she was part of the reason why so many innocent women were murdered.

“We have to tear it down. The witches most certainly have seen it, and it must have fuelled their anger,” Yerim finally said. “Jin-“

“Do not speak the foul name, sister,” Hyejoo growled, taking a step in her direction.

Yerim took a few steps back, lowering her head. “My apologies-“

“You understand that this is your fault, yes? We have been cursed by your so-called friend, and look at us! Do you enjoy drinking the blood of animals? Do you enjoy longing for more?”

Yerim clenched her jaw but stood still as her sisters glared at her. Hyejoo showed her teeth and bent her knees slightly, and Yerim did the same, but more defensively. Hyunjin stayed still observing the scene but decided to look around the plaza instead.

“Are you guys okay?” Chaewon asked, helping Yeojin out of the car to where Heejin was standing.

“I’ve never heard so many screams,” the small girl replied, both her hands plastered on her ears.

“I thought witches sold their souls to Satan or something? How come you can hear and see them?” The blonde said, putting a hand on Heejin’s shoulder.

Heejin shook her head, glancing at her friend. She took in a few quick breaths, beads of sweat sliding down her forehead.

“It’s not the witches, it’s the villagers.”

They were among a large crowd of people jumping around and shaking their fists in the air, mouthing words that only Yeojin could hear. Everywhere she looked, Heejin saw angry transparent bodies that would look at them with anger. They were all pointing the pyre as if someone was currently on it. Heejin trembled, hugging her chest and making sure to breathe. Chaewon’s question had brought her attention back to the crowd, and Heejin regretted ever coming here.

“What are they saying?” Heejin asked. “They are circling us and mouthing something angrily…”

“Witch, witch. Burn her. Kill her. You… you will never lay a finger on the princess again. B-Burn,” Yeojin said, tripping on her words as if people were yelling over her.

“We need to leave, now,” Chaewon said.

She clenched her teeth, looking at the vampires. Hyunjin was looking around her, her expression nostalgic. Yerim and Hyejoo were still in a face-off, but Yerim was arguing with her silent sister. Chaewon frowned, unsure about what the hell was happening.

“Yerim, we need to leave! Yeojin and Heejin can’t take a lot more.”

“We are duelling, she will not step out,” Hyejoo countered, hissing at her.

“I get that you have family problems and that you are likely to kill us anytime you want, but right now this isn’t about you, you prick! My friends need us to go!” Chaewon yelled, readjusting her grip on Yeojin.

Hyunjin finally tore her gaze off of the many stone buildings surrounding them, and it landed on Heejin shaking like she was in the North Pole. Heejin felt cold shudders cross her body as ghosts walked through her and noticed her presence, surrounding her and touching her with their icy fingers. Some tried to hit her, but their punches went through her face. Silent tears were running down her cheeks, and she swallowed back a sob, her panic rising. Her breath became shallow, and she started breathing quickly, the oxygen barely making it in. She choked on her exhale and started coughing, causing spasms to rock her body. The ghosts only came closer, stealing any air she had left. Their feelings twirled around her, trapping her in a cocoon of centuries-old repressed emotions.

Hyunjin ran to her side and took her face in her hands, her yellow eyes forcing Heejin’s attention to them. She looked away, afraid to offend the woman.

“Look at me, Heejin of Jeon. Do not speak, gather all your attention to me.”

Heejin sniffed loudly and let a sob escape, but she looked at Hyunjin again. The vampire rubbed her thumbs against the side of her face and slowly breathed in and out. She put a hand on Heejin’s stomach, and awkwardly pushed it as if she was trying to make her breath. The girl got the message and followed Hyunjin’s breathing, focusing her attention on the girl. She didn’t even realize she was guiding her to the car as her breath regulated slowly, Hyunjin still breathing out loud. The vampire sat beside her, still holding her face until Heejin closed her eyes and stopped crying.

She felt a hand drying her tears and opened her eyes, seeing Hyunjin frown as she passed the back of her hand on her cheeks. Heejin looked to the front, where Yeojin was curled into a ball, and Yerim was laying in bat form on her knees. Hyejoo was sitting next to Hyunjin, looking at her sister with an odd look on her face.

“Thank you.”

Heejin’s voice came out rugged, but the vampire didn’t seem to mind.

“I have experience with these types of breathing fits.”

Heejin nodded her head and leaned on the car door, looking outside. They were far enough from the pyre so that no ghosts were in sight, which reassured the girl. She had never experienced anything like this. Usually, they would meet as many as three ghosts at a time, and that was barely manageable for her. She would describe what they looked like to the viewers and point them to Chaewon and Yeojin before standing in the protection circle for the rest of the video, usually exaggerating her crying for internet points.

It was her first time being surrounded by a crowd of pure anger. Her anxiety had shot up in an instant, and everything but their icy presence and harsh glares had vanished. The sheer terror she had felt still made her heart beat like crazy.

“Where do we go now?” The blonde asked in a small voice, glancing at Yeojin.

“The witch circle,” Hyejoo replied, shifting in her seat to look out the window.

Chaewon looked at Heejin with the rear-view mirror, and her friend nodded. Reluctantly, the blonde drove carefully as she entered the coordinates on her phone and let the GSP do its thing.

Heejin rubbed her hands on her eyes, drained. From the corner of her eye, she saw Hyunjin make a movement towards her, but she stopped and brought her hand back. Heejin took a quick look at her face to try to understand her motivation, and she was surprised to find empathy.

***

The ruins mentioned by Starry_Xx_love were in fact still intact. Chaewon was thankful that witches sold their souls to Satan, or else Heejin and Yeojin would have literally died out here.

Speaking of her friends, the youngest was walking among the ruins with Yerim, flashing her cellphone flashlight as she still rubbed her ears. Chaewon was glad that she was okay, even if she didn’t say it out loud. She didn’t want Yeojin to be scared and potentially put them in danger (again). She saw Yerim crouch next to a big block and bringing Yeojin closer, whispering something in her ear. Her friend giggled, and the vampire grinned, which made Chaewon crack a little smile.

Farther ahead, Heejin was following Hyunjin with her eyes, standing around and filming as the older vampire crouched from block to block, sniffing the air like a cat. Chaewon sighed loudly at the sight of her heart-eyes and shook her head. What was the point of getting a crush on an immortal killer if in either case, you die before them?

The blonde kicked a rock and rubbed her hands along her arms, trying to slow down the cold infiltrating her coat. The nights in this part of the state were more chill than she remembered googling online. She heard a grunt behind her and snapped her head back, taken by surprise. Hyejoo was following her, shooting daggers with her eyes at her back. The vampire looked up at her face and squinted when the light from her phone shone in her eyes, but she stopped walking and quickly shifted her gaze to the side.

Chaewon frowned and pulled her lips to one side, exhaling loudly. After the pyre “incident”, the girl had stopped annoying her and, strangely, started sulking. She hadn’t said a word all the way to the ruins and hadn’t looked at her sisters. On top of that, Chaewon still didn’t understand the whole “claim” thing, which annoyed her quite a bit.

_ Might as well ask, amirite? _

She cleared her throat, ready to ask her question, but Heejin’s loud babbling interrupted her train of thought.

“Jeon Heejin is on the job! I have no idea if the camera was on when we were at the pyre, but here we are, in the old witch circle’s ruins! They used to live here as a clan and… probably made potions and stuff? I should ask Chaewon to look it up! Who knows what we’re actually doing here, we humans are supposed to show the vampires around, but they chose to come here, so we can’t argue with that! Over there you can see Yeojin and not Yerim, over there Chaewon and not Hyejoo, and there-“

“Cease your monologue, girl,” Hyunjin snapped, glaring at her. “We do not wish to attract the witches’s attention.”

“Honestly, if the witches are still around, they probably know that we’re here, bro,” Yeojin countered, raising an eyebrow. “If this is their old village, they probably have stuff standing guard or something.”

“She is in the right. The witches would not be as foolish as to leave this place vulnerable,” Yerim added, glancing at Yeojin. “They are familiar as to what occurred on this scene.”

“Be it, then. They will be aware of our presence, but we will find it before them.”

“Find what?” Heejin asked, stumbling around with the camera.

Hyunjin looked at Hyejoo, but the latter was ignoring the rest of the group, tending to a piece of rock on the ground. The oldest sister grunted, but Hyejoo didn’t tear her gaze off her prized centuries-old rock. Yerim was looking at Hyunjin, as confused as the rest of them.

“Anything that could help,” Hyunjin finally answered.

She huffed towards other blocks and dug around in the dirt, grumbling something under her breath. Chaewon rolled her eyes and walked to where Heejin was standing, still trying to film the vampires.

“Yerim, what if you lift a rock or something? Maybe then we could see something!”

“Good idea, Heejin!” Yeojin said, picking up a rock and handing to Yerim. “Let me just…”

She flashed the light in her hands towards the vampire and threw a thumbs up at Heejin. The girl looked at the camera screen and screamed, scarring the other two humans.

“The rock is floating! We did it!”

“Holy shit! Okay, Yerim! Move the rock around!”

Chaewon observed the scene, Yerim doing as asked and moving the object around. Heejin and Yeojin held to each other as they jumped in circles, celebrating their victory.

“Wait, guys, can I see-“

The blonde tripped on a stick and dropped her phone, falling face-first on the ground. She hit the grass with a soft thud, and she grunted in pain as she slowly got up, brushing the dirt off her arms.

“Are you serious?” She whispered, frowning at the dirt stains on her fluffy pastel pink coat.

“Yo, you good man?” Heejin asked, not moving from her spot next to Yerim.

“Oh yeah, I’m wonderful. Don’t mind me, eating dirt and rocks!”

“Do you think the black market would pay for witch village worms?” Yeojin asked, but quickly glanced at the camera. “For legal reasons this is a joke-“

“Pay attention to your surroundings, and you will stay on your feet, ‘you prick’.”

Hyejoo was sitting on a pile of blocks a few feet away, looking down at her hands. She inserted them in the front pocket of her hoodie and pushed her hands to the other sides, crossing her arms inside the fabric.

“I don’t have eyes behind my head like you do, miss immortal blood-sucker,” Chaewon grumbled, standing up.

“I do not possess eyes behind my head.”

“It’s an expression. Do you even know what an expression is?”

Chaewon turned around to dig out the stick to throw it at the vampire. She was tired of being treated like an idiot. All-day today, her friends and the vampires had almost managed to kill her, one side from heart attacks and the other from skin eating. To be fair, she hadn’t seen the vampires suck the blood out of anyone, which could explain why she was feeling so confident against Hyejoo.

Her hands finally hit something hard, and she cupped dirt out of the sides to pull out the stick.

“Here, you little c-“

She stopped herself, looking at the object in her hands with wide eyes. The blonde looked up and immediately, the three vampires were by her side, their eyes stuck on the item in her hand. Hyejoo crouched beside her, her eyes shaking as she passed her index on the dirt-covered gem.

“You have retrieved it.”

Chaewon was holding the biggest sword she had ever held (the others having been in plastic). The girl blinked a few times, trying to hand it to Yerim. The vampire backed away, pushing her hands towards Hyejoo. The woman went to reach it, but she stopped herself and pushed Chaewon’s hands towards Hyunjin.

“It is rightfully yours, sister.”

But Hyunjin just stood there, her yellow eyes gazing up and down at the blade. She looked at her sisters and back to the weapon, her face scrunching into a mix of fear and anger, but still, she grabbed the handle. However, she immediately dropped the sword and hissed, her other hand shooting to her shaking wrist. The blonde let a little scream of surprise, and the other vampires jumped away.

Yeojin and Heejin ran to them, flashing their light at them.

“Is that a fucking sword?” Yeojin exclaimed.

“No, it’s my dog’s step-brother,” Chaewon mocked, rolling her eyes.

“Hyunjin, are you alright?”

Heejin was crouched beside the girl, trying to look at her hand, but the vampire hissed at her, still clutching her wrist.

“Sister, what happened?” Yerim asked, her voice trembling with concern.

“The sword, it burned my flesh. Curse father and his unceasing punishments!”

She opened her mouth to say more, but she shook her head, clenching her teeth. Heejin turned around and walked towards Chaewon, crouching next to her.

“Yeojin, maybe…”

“Try it,” the girl said. “I’d say it won’t hurt, but…”

Heejin rubbed her right hand against the metal and waited for a few seconds before taking her hand away and observing her skin. Hyejoo and Yerim looked at each other and scooted closer to Heejin, looking over her shoulder. The girl tsked and shook her hand before showing it to Chaewon. Yeojin shone her light, showcasing the redness of her skin.

“Yep, that’s what I thought.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Hyejoo pressed, glancing back at her suffering sister.

“It’s silver. Heejin and I react to it, it burns our skin a bit,” Yeojin explained. “It’s a weird kind of allergy, maybe Hyunjin has it too?”

“I do not react to silver in this way,” Hyunjin said through her teeth. “Well, when I was human, at least.”

“I read once that werewolves can be killed by silver bullets, right? Maybe vampires don’t react well to it either,” Chaewon suggested.

“Werewolves aren’t real, idiot,” Heejin snickered.

“Says the girl surrounded by vampires!”

“Enough! My ears!” Hyunjin ordered, hissing at all of them.

Her face was scrunched in pain as her hand fizzled, and the skin slowly regrew on her palm. Chaewon slacked her jaw and blinked a few times, then pinched the skin on her arm to check if she was dreaming. Next to her, the vampires reacted the same, as if they had never seen this kind of healing power in action. Hyunjin slowly stretched her fingers and shook her hand, taking a big breath of air. Her hand was back to normal, but the woman didn’t let go of her wrist.

“That means that we cannot hold it,” Hyejoo whispered. “We cannot use it against the witches.”

“Hyej-“Hyunjin tried to say.

“That was your plan?” Yerim exclaimed, cutting her sister mid-way.

She stood in front of Chaewon and rose her arms in the form of a T, planting her feet in the ground.

“You will not slay them again!”

“We do not have a choice, Yerim. It is them or us,” Hyunjin said, her face emotionless.

“We do not know that! If we tear down the pyre, they could pardon us. Perhaps we can ask Jin-“

“Do not speak the foul name, sister!” Hyejoo exclaimed, jumping towards her sister.

Chaewon froze, widening her eyes. Everything went so fast. She quickly crawled away, dragging the sword behind her, while Heejin and Yeojin stood next to her, looking from Hyejoo to Yerim. The dark-haired woman stopped herself before gripping the other’s throat, her hand hovering inches away from her pale skin. Yerim stared back at her sister, surprise painted all over her face. For once, Hyunjin showed a bit of emotion on her face, this time being her left eyebrow raising up just a bit.

“Hye?”

“Do not mention her name, sister.”

With that, she ran to the car and slammed the door shut. Yerim stayed frozen as Hyunjin didn’t even bother looking at her and continued glaring at the sword like it was a bomb. Chaewon glanced at her friends, but both of them stayed silent. To be honest, none of them wanted to attract the attention on them. They had been  _ this  _ close to have potentially died, or worse, Yeojin might have had the brilliant idea of filming the whole thing while commenting.

“That is enough for today. We will return to our quarters in the castle and summon you again tomorrow,” Hyunjin said, walking past them. “Do not forget the sword. Bring it with you.”

Chaewon gulped, but she complied, dragging the weapon behind her as the trio walked to the car following the vampire. Honestly, how were they not dead by now? Like, for real, how? The blonde had a list in her head of all the dangers of talking with vampires, one of them being accidentally decapitated. Another one, added just now, was to be either slaughtered by Yerim for killing more witches or to be skinned alive by Hyejoo for not killing more witches.

Why couldn’t she be allergic to silver like everyone else?


	4. Starry_Xx_love and her skeptical friends

It was almost noon of the next day, but Yeojin was still waiting for her blonde friend to get out of the shower. She stood behind the door, tapping her foot angrily.

“Can you get out?”

“Im Yeojin, I swear to God if you ask this question one more time-“Chaewon’s voice came out muffled by the door, but Yeojin cut her again.

“Can you get out?”

The door slammed opened, Chaewon standing in one pant leg and swinging the blowdryer at her face, her face contorted in anger. Yeojin crouched and dodged the attack, rolling to the side. She jumped in the bathroom and pushed Chaewon out, screaming in victory. She slammed the door and locked it before Chaewon could try to open it. Yeojin snickered as her friend banged her fist on the door, screaming insults at her.

She turned the bath handle up to the red dot and put her hand under the stream of water, checking the temperature. She jerked her hand away, shaking it to ease the burn.

“Yerim, wait.”

She frowned as she got in the shower, thinking about yesterday night. She had run out of the car, following the vampire as she returned to the castle.

“My apologies, Yeojin. My sisters and I… We do not get along well, we never did, truthfully. Are your ears better?”

“Um, yeah, I’m fine now. I just…”

She fell silent, trying to form what she wanted to say in her head. She had so many questions to ask, but she could see how… tired Yerim was. Yeojin wasn't usually a very serious person, but she knew when to act more appropriately. The vampire was smiling at her, but the kind of smile her mom would shoot her after they came back from the mental hospital before she would sit at the kitchen table and rest her face in her hands. Her heart clenched at the memory, and she blinked a few tears away. The girl impulsively took the vampire’s hand hanging to her side and squeezed, trying to cheer her up. Yerim tensed up, looking down at their hands. Yeojin didn’t let go.

“It wasn’t your fault, Yerim. Your sisters shouldn’t be mad at you for something you couldn’t control.”

The vampire’s shoulders sagged, and she tilted her head down, closing her eyes.

“I do not want to kill people, Yeojin. Even if they cursed us, they deserve to be as angry as my sisters are. Our father murdered their entire family.”

“Then don’t. You don’t have to listen to them, Yerim. You can stay here and help us find more about the witches.”

Yerim shook her head and looked at the castle behind her.

“I must remain here. I like to think of it as a punishment, you see. Yet, I do not remember my sisters being so keen on violence. They truly loathe the monsters we have become.”

She had left right after their conversation, and Yeojin had returned to the car, her head full of thoughts. For sisters, they really had weird chemistry. Hyejoo seemed to hate Yerim with everything in her heart, while Hyunjin seemed to care only about herself (and Heejin, strangely). Yeojin remembered the vampire’s story about how they were brought up. If they were never close, it was her duty to bring them together, since families should always be united (unless they were dicks like Heejin’s parents). If only she could find a way to shift the blame off of Yerim, then they could work together to lift their curse.

But first, they had to find the witches.

“Yeojin, get out! We need to go to the meetup!” Heejin yelled, banging on the door.

“Alright, alright!”

She stopped the running water and got out, drying herself and putting the clothes she had set aside. During the day, it was hot enough to walk around in a t-shirt, so she dressed appropriately. The girl got out and walked to the bed she shared with Chaewon and took her small bag. Her gaze drifted to the chair next to the desk, where the silver sword rested, unmoving. Shudders crossed her body, and she hurried to her friends. Something about having a weapon stained with murder in her room didn't sit right with her. The other two were waiting for her by the door, and they all got out.

“What if no one shows up?” Chaewon asked, pressing on the down arrow to call the elevator.

“We’re screwed,” Heejin replied, shrugging.

“We can still go check out the different statues in the village. They probably had some history written on them,” Yeojin suggested as they walked inside the elevator.

“Good idea. Then we can go to the library or something,” Chaewon added.

The ding of the elevator echoed in the lobby as the doors opened to the first floor. The trio walked out of the hotel to their Civic and jumped in, Chaewon still driving as she was the only one with a permit. To be honest, Yeojin wasn’t even sure it was a real one.

“So you and Yerim seem to be good friends, huh?” Heejin teased, handing Yeojin an apple.

“I-I don’t like her!” The girl protested, and Heejin giggled. “She’s just the only one that actually transforms into a bat, you know, like a real vampire! I think she’s neat!”

“I know we joke about this, but you guys really shouldn’t start getting crushes on immortals killers,” Chaewon said.

“You’re one to talk! Who got claimed, here, huh?” Yeojin countered. “And she’s just a friend!”

Chaewon rolled her eyes, but her face became red. Yeojin laughed as the girl tried to hit her while driving, and Heejin couldn’t help but laugh too.

It was the first time they were genuinely having fun ever since coming to this cursed town, so Yeojin savoured the moment, knowing it wouldn’t last. It didn’t take long for Chaewon to find the pyre, and Yeojin subconsciously put her hands back on ears. During the day, the ghosts had a harder time communicating with her, as well as appear to Heejin. They did sense something weird about the pyre the first time, but coming at night had confirmed their suspicions.

They parked the car along a metal gate surrounding the mayor’s office, a little grey brick building covered with vines, and got out and walked to the monument. Heejin looked around in fear and sighed silently as Chaewon looked down at her phone, writing on their twitter account that they had arrived at the pyre. Yeojin saw a couple people standing around, and their heads perked up at their arrival.

“Jungeun?” Heejin asked, tilting her head to the side.

The waitress had let her hair loose and was wearing a red t-shirt and jeans, making her look more casual. She was standing next to another girl clad in a blue dress who was talking loudly. She looked up from her nails when her name was called and smiled, shyly waving at them.

“Hey, guys!”

“Why are  _ you _ here?” Yeojin asked, and Chaewon kicked her in the back of the leg, glaring at her.

“I came here with my friend. Hey, Jiwoo!” She called.

A young woman with long burgundy hair tied in a high ponytail turned around, smiling brightly at the group.

“Hello there! My name is Jiwoo, nice to meet you!”

Yeojin blinked a few times, taken back by her liveliness. Heejin shook her hand, smiling at her.

“Nice to meet you too!”

“You guys are Hunting Ghosts for Clout, right?”

“Yeah, that’s us! We heard you were a fan?” Chaewon asked, tilting her head towards Jungeun.

“Oh yeah, I really like your videos! They’re hilarious and so cool, I love how you all have something useful to help solve these cases!”

“Thanks! It can be a pain at times, but it does help for our videos,” Heejin said, smiling brightly.

“So, I heard you already went to the castle? How… was it?” She asked, her tone becoming more severe at the last question.

Yeojin had a whiplash hearing her shift in emotion. This girl was something else! Jungeun was listening eagerly, looking from her friend to the trio of ghost hunters.

“Oh, it was fine, really! We just wanted to be more prepared next time we go in,” Chaewon explained. “Actually, we came to meet up with someone called Starry love? Obviously not a real name, but we have communicated online before and-“

“I am Starry love,” Jiwoo said, pointing to herself with a big smile on her face. “I know you saw the sisters. You were the one that asked if they could be vampires, right?”

Yeojin quickly looked at her friends, surprise and fear twisting her guts. Chaewon seemed taken aback, and Heejin hurriedly looked around, checking if anybody had heard them. As for Jungeun, she had raised her eyebrows and was looking at Jiwoo like she was insane.

“We need to talk somewhere more private. Follow me.”

She turned around on her heels and walked away, not even checking if they were following her. She was right because they did follow her, curious as to what she wanted to say. Jungeun ran behind them, still looking confused.

“Vampires? I thought you guys were ghost hunters!”

“We are, but something weird happened, and now we have another problem on our hands…” Heejin said.

They all followed Jiwoo for at least ten minutes as she turned corner after corner but soon came to a stop in front of a tall building with four greek columns holding the front part of the roof. Yeojin had almost tripped on a few cobblestones and hit her exposed toes on the rocks, so she was jumping a bit. The building looked old, given there were a few cracks in the front stone facade and bits of the triangular roof were missing.

“The library? Why didn’t you just say so?” Jungeun asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“I wanted to look mysterious,” Jiwoo said, grinning at her friend. “But hey! Here we are! Let’s go inside.”

Chaewon looked unimpressed, her lips pushed to the side and an eyebrow raised at the other woman. For her part, Yeojin just shrugged and followed her in. Jiwoo pushed on the door with everything she had, and Jungeun helped her as if it was normal for a library to have doors that were that hard to push. They finally tumbled inside and motioned to the trio to come in.

Yeojin was surprised to find people inside. The building looked so gloomy and ancient from outside, but inside was as recent as a library could be. There were two rows of wooden bookshelves from the door to the back of the room, and in the middle, a corridor led to an area with tables and chairs.

“Wait, aren’t you supposed to  _ not _ talk in a library, though?” Yeojin asked.

“I have connections,” Jiwoo answered, smiling as she walked to the front desk.

“Our friend works here,” Jungeun explained, rolling her eyes.

They all followed her to the counter, where a woman with dark brownish-orange hair with bangs was scanning books and typing away on a computer. She looked up when they arrived and smiled at Jiwoo and Jungeun.

“Hey guys! What’s up?”

She had a little accent, Yeojin noticed, but she seemed fluent. Her voice was soft, even more than Yerim’s. Jiwoo put an arm on the counter and dragged Jungeun by the arm. The poor waitress tripped on her feet and almost smashed into the board, making the librarian put a hand on her mouth.

“Hey Vivi! We need a private room, any available?”

“There’s always at least one when the school year is over! Is it just you two?”

“For all of us!”

She pointed back at the trio, who shyly waved. Vivi’s smile grew bright, and she greeted them with a little nod.

“Nice to meet you! I’ve never seen you around, I think?”

“Nope, we’re not from here. My name is Heejin, and this is Chaewon and Yeojin,” Heejin introduced, pointing at them.

“Where did you meet?” Vivi asked.

“At the pyre, like ten minutes ago!” Jungeun exclaimed, shaking her head.

“It doesn’t look you know each other that much! Why come to the library, then?”

“We have a common interest! We’re here to learn about town history!” Jiwoo exclaimed.

“Vivi, you need to get me out of there,” Jungeun whined, laying her head on the counter. “She’s going crazy again.”

The woman smiled and reached under her desk, looking around in her drawers. Finally, she pulled her hand out and handed a key to Heejin, who was standing next to Jiwoo.

“Here, that’s for room number three. You two know where it is, right?”

“Yep!” Jiwoo said.

Jungeun was pulled away by her friend, but before the trio could follow, Vivi called their name.

“I feel like I’ve seen you before, but I don’t know from where…”

“It could be from our Youtube channel, Hunting Ghosts for Clout,” Yeojin said, puffing her chest. “Your friend likes us a lot, she probably showed you.”

“Oh, the girls that hunt ghosts, yes, it does ring a bell!” Vivi said, clapping her hands. “The special effects you put into your videos are very realistic.”

“It’s not special effects,” Chaewon said, frowning.

A lot of people didn’t believe them, which really irritated the blonde. Yeojin didn’t really care as long as she could gain money from the whole thing, but it was annoying when an asshole would comment paragraphs of proof on how it was impossible to separately hear and see ghosts. Yeojin never knew what to say when that happened. Ask her ancestors? Like?

“Well, whatever it is, you shouldn’t make the girls wait,” the librarian said, her little smile calming Yeojin’s internal battle. “Just follow the red line on the wall, and you’ll find them.”

“Thank you, miss Vivi. See you next time!” Heejin said, dragging Chaewon away.

Yeojin followed behind them as the blonde mumbled under her breath, shooting glares at the woman.

“I hate when people say that it’s fake. It’s not like you guys chose to live like this!”

“Technically, we do, though,” Yeojin countered. “We made a youtube channel to exploit ourselves.”

“That’s not- ugh, whatever, lentil ben.”

“I’m not a lentil bean, you fried-haired idiot!”

“What did you say?”

“Shut up, you guys! This is a library!”

***

“Why are we here, again?”

“This is a crucial meeting, Jungeun! We need to find a way to save the town!”

“Hold up, save the town? From what?”

They were all gathered around a large table, their noses stuck in old archives of the town. Well, not all of them. Yeojin had abandoned long ago, preferring to collect coins from her penguin isle. She looked up from her cellphone as Chaewon asked the question, as curious as to what Jiwoo was talking about. Jungeun was flipping the pages of her book, not even knowing what she was looking for.

Jiwoo pointed at the trio, her expression serious.

“We know for a fact that the sisters of Ardismoth have been cursed, right?”

“Yep,” Yeojin said.

“You guys have been in there and have seen them exhibit vampire powers, right?”

“Yes,” Heejin said while nodding.

“Well, we need to be prepared! We can’t be sure how they will react when they see the witches!”

“But we don’t even know if the witches are still alive,” Chaewon said, resting her chin in her hand.

“Okay, that does it. I know you believe in magic, but this is way too much for me,” Jungeun intervened, standing up from her chair.

Jiwoo dragged her back down and flipped a few pages of her book, an old leather notebook, before waving it in front of her eyes.

“Then, what is  _ this _ ?”

Yeojin leaned in, trying to get a better view of the picture. It was an old drawing of a dark silhouette with shiny eyes and claws for fingers opening its mouth at them, showcasing a multitude of pointy teeth. Under the picture, there was a simple line written in almost illegible hand-writing saying ‘the monsters made by the witches to punish us’. It honestly looked like a man dedicated an old journal to the events following the witch hunt.

Yeojin gulped and reach over the waitress’s arm to flip the page. On the other side, there was a description of a ‘witness’, dated January 1648. 

“Wait, what’s 2020 minus 1648?”

“Uh, I don’t know, like four hundred years?” Heejin said, counting on her hands.

“Actually, it’s 372,” Chaewon said, showing the calculator on her cellphone.

Yeojin looked back at the book, her eyes wide. Yerim was 372 years old, or more since she looked about her age.

“Can I read it?” She asked, and Jungeun pushed it to her side of the table.

The man described the sisters as creatures with long teeth and bloodshot eyes that feasted on human blood and attacked at night. He had written the first occurrence, noting that it was right after the slaughter of the witch village. They had suddenly disappeared after a few days and had never shown up again.

Yeojin flipped back to the previous page, fear of the drawing mixing with her annoyance of how it really didn’t look like Yerim. Of course, the vampire had sharp canine and shiny purple eyes, but her face was beautiful, not deformed like on the picture. She didn’t crouch when she walked, Yerim jumped, her eyes full of wonder as she touched the grass with her bare feet and curiousness at the new technology.

“She doesn’t even look like this,” Yeojin huffed, sliding the book away from her.

“She?” Jungeun asked, leaning forward on her chair.

Jiwoo squinted her eyes and flipped the pages of the book she was holding, letting out a little squeal when she landed on the right one.

“Jungeun, you don’t believe me, right?”

“Of course not! You’re crazy if you think vampires are real! And you guys! What’s wrong with you?”

“What if I can prove it?”

Jungeun crossed her arms on her chest, leaning back on her chair and sighed, rolling her eyes. Jiwoo dragged her chair next to her, holding the book so only the two of them could see what was inside.

“Go ahead, weirdo.”

“Thanks. You guys have never even read about the history of the old village except for the legend Jungeun told you, right?”

“Yeah, we know nothing about this place,” Heejin confirmed. “It was hard to find anything, by the way! Usually, we get prepared before our videos, but nothing on the internet said-“

“Here you can see the archives of the day the princesses of Ardismoth were born, Jungeun,” Jiwoo interrupted, pointing at the book.

“Okay?”

“Girls, can you tell me the name of the sisters in order of birth?”

Chaewon squinted her eyes and grimaced, and Yeojin recognized her friend’s judgemental look when she saw it. Jiwoo didn’t seem to notice, though, because she kept smiling, her eyes wide open as she waited.

“Yerim said that she was the middle one,” Yeojin started. “Then Hyunjin said she was gonna inherit that whole thing, that makes her the oldest, right?”

“Then Hyejoo is the last one,” Heejin said, then looked over at Jungeun, smiling awkwardly. “It was hard to understand, I was confused, terrified and aroused at the same time-“

“Heejin, please shut the fuck up,” Chaewon blurted, rubbing her face with her hands. “I told you to not get a crush on an immortal killer, and you are not going to embarrass me in front of normal people today.”

“What can I do? She’s so hot-“

“So the order of the names is Hyunjin, Yerim and Hyejoo, right?” Jiwoo said, nudging her friend.

“Are you going to ignore what just happened?” Jungeun screeched, pointing at Heejin. “What do you mean, she’s  _ hot  _ ?”

“The jawline-“

“Jungeun, just admit that I’m right! It’s in the book!” Jiwoo said, finally showing the page.

Yeojin leaned over again, trying to read the hand-writing. This book looked more like a regular book and not some guy’s journal, even if it wasn’t printed. Thinking about it, when was the printing press invented?

This one had no drawing, but Jiwoo’s finger was stuck on Hyunjin’s name, and Yeojin read until she landed a blank space next to Hyejoo’s name.

“Now that you believe me, Jungie-“

“I’m in denial. This is a camera show, I know it.”

“This is technically a camera show! We’re YouTubers!” Yeojin said.

“Now we can start looking for the witches’ records! Let’s go ask Vivi! She’s read like, every book in this place,” Jiwoo exclaimed, shooting out of her seat.

“I’ll go with,” Yeojin volunteered, seeing Chaewon mumbling under her breath again.

“Fantastic! Follow me then!”

Jiwoo got out of the room, holding the door for her. They walked down the hallway leading to the common room, Jiwoo chatting away.

“I haven’t really had the occasion of saying this, but Oh my God I love you guys’ channel! I watch every video and try to solve the mysteries with you! I can’t believe you have those kinds of powers!”

“Thanks, but it's more like a curse, really. You would think it’s one of a kind, but I’ve met a few people like Heejin and me,” Yeojin explained. “People think that we’re crazy, some people even get sent to psych wards. To be honest, I was sure I had schizophrenia.”

Jiwoo nodded while frowning.

“It’s true that just hearing them is scary. You can’t see anyone, so I get that you would think that at first.”

They stopped at the front desk, looking for the librarian. She wasn’t there, so Yeojin turned around, looking at the common room. There were still a few people sitting around, reading, or people looking for books in the bookshelves. A speck of orange attracted Yeojin’s attention, and she found Vivi, replacing books on the shelves.

She nudged Jiwoo, and they walked to Vivi, who was now helping a kid grab a book.

“Hey Vivi! We need to get more books from the archives!”

“More? I bet you took all of them!” The woman said, widening her eyes.

“Not yet! We need to find books about the witch circle!”

Vivi rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“So vampires wasn’t enough for you, huh?”

“The witch circle has material proof,” Yeojin pointed out. “I’m sure people have written about it somewhere.”

“Maybe, but you have to realize that witches… don’t really exist,” Vivi said, grimacing. “And besides, if they did really exist, they would have burned any archives of them, right?”

Jiwoo stopped smiling and scratched her head, frowning.

“That’s a possibility.”

“It won’t hurt to look! Let’s go!”

Yeojin ran to the back of the room, disrupting a group of little children who laughed when she passed. The archives were down the stairs locked by a big copper key, like the ones they saw in antique shops. Vivi took her time to walk to the door and finally pushed the key in the hole, twisting it around a few times until the popping sound arose again. She flicked the light switch and hopped down the stairs, followed by two eager grown adults.

To be honest, Yeojin didn’t really like books that much, even when they were full of pictures. This time, however, she wanted to help Yerim (and her sisters, maybe), so if looking through books and books of possible sighting or the name Jinsoul was going to bring them closer to the witches, then she was willing to spend a night in this creepy smelly cave.

It was lighted by one light bulb hanging from a wire from the ceiling, and most of the books were in massive ancient chests, all regrouped by category. There was no witch category, surprisingly, but neither was there a vampire one, so they just kept looking around in the ‘1600-1700’ chest. They had taken almost all books, but a few remained, worn out by time.

Yeojin picked up a hardcover book and was surprised by its heaviness. There was so must dust on it that, like in the movies, she blew on the cover to make it fly away. Yeojin coughed and waved her hand in the air, then looked down at the title. “Sir John’s expenses and village treasury records”. Yeojin frowned, surprised that one mayor would have so much to spend on.

“Anything yet?” Vivi asked, leaning over Jiwoo.

“Still looking!”

Yeojin looked back at her book and tried flipping pages, but they were stuck together. Curious, she opened the cover, wondering if something was blocking the pages.

She gasped and quickly looked at the women, but they didn’t seem to have heard her. The book in her hands had the pages glued together, and a little rectangle had been carved in the middle, in which a small notebook rested, hidden. She discreetly sneaked it under her shirt and put the big book back down, closing the chest.

“There’s nothing about the witches in here. The others might have found something else.”

“That’s not fair!” Jiwoo whined, throwing her arms in the air. “Why is there nothing if there’s a literal witch circle?”

“Because witches don’t exist, dummy,” Vivi scolded gently, tapping the woman’s head.

Yeojin didn’t want to show the book to the librarian because 1. The first book was ruined, and she might be blamed, and 2. Vivi would probably confiscate it, thinking it was so sort of fan fiction. The title didn’t help, being the dumbest thing she had ever seen. “A witch’s spells and thoughts”, what even was that? They climbed the stairs back up to the common area, and Yeojin made a beeline for the private room, holding the notebook against her stomach.

Yeojin had always dreamt of reading someone’s secret diary. She just never imagined it would be a witch’s.


	5. Jinsoul secret diary inimida

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is courtesy of GreenOak113 lmao. I laughed a lot reading that
> 
> Side note, there will be a "gory" moment so if you're a vegan watch out
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"So it's a witch diary?" Jiwoo asked.

"Basically, plus some spells!"

Yeojin had forced them to leave the library in fear of being caught and having to explain why one book had been literally transformed into a sarcophagus. Jungeun had brought them to a little cafe, and they had taken a seat at the terrace to be unbothered. Either way, there was no one around, just like in the waitresses' restaurant. The blue sky was void of clouds, and a light breeze blew, making Heejin's low ponytail swish to the side. She was prepping the camera for the scene, and Chaewon had gone inside to order some drinks. Jiwoo was sitting next to Yeojin, shaking in excitement as Jungeun sighed and rolled her eyes, but still took a few looks at the notebook.

"The camera is ready!"

"Alright! Let's film this bad boy!" Yeojin said, hurriedly flipping the first page.

"Hi guys!" Heejin said, waving at the camera. "We met Starry love! This is her right there, say hi!"

"Hi! My name is Jiwoo! Oh my God, I can't believe I'm gonna be in your video!" Jiwoo said, smiling brightly.

"We went to the library, and Yeojin found this weird book in the archives," Heejin explained. "We're gonna open it to see what's inside! Apparently, it's a witch book! Hey, why don't you guys guess what's inside? In the top right corner, you can choose an option from the poll we're going to graciously add later, or right now for you guys!"

She turned the camera around on the table and propped it up on the tripod so the viewers could have a good view of the table. Heejin looked around her, but there was still not a lot of people in their surroundings. The cafe was boarding the fountain, and even then, there were no tourists, just a couple of villagers taking a walk. She saw Chaewon coming back with a platter of drinks, her face scrunched in concentration as she glared at the glasses and took slow steps. Heejin untied her hair and aimed at her friend with the elastic, and she giggled as Chaewon widened her eyes and almost tripped on a chair leg.

The blonde finally set the platter on the table and gave everyone their drinks, curiously looking at the notebook Yeojin was holding.

"So? Anything weird yet?"

"If Yeojin could get her nose out of the front page, then we could see something," Heejin teased, poking her small friend.

"It says the book is for Choerry," Yeojin said, frowning as she turned the book around to show to her friends.

"Who is that?" Jungeun asked, taking a sip from her ice coffee.

"I don't know."

"Guys, we forgot to introduce Jungeun!" Chaewon exclaimed. "Heejin, focus the camera on her."

"This is a breach of my privacy," the woman said, but she still fixed her hair and winked at the camera. "Speaking of videos, didn't you guys at least record the vampires? If you had shone me, I would have believed you."

"You can't record vampires just like you can't see them in mirrors," Heejin said, zooming on Jungeun's face. "Even in animal form, they're invisible to the camera."

" _ Animal form? _ "

"Can we focus on the book, now?" Jiwoo asked.

Heejin turned the camera back to the book and flipped the second page, eager to see what was inside. The old parchment was in surprisingly good condition, which had kept the black ink easy to read. There was only one paragraph on that page, so Heejin started reading to narrate to the viewers.

"I am certain that you will find this book on time. I will hide it from the Elder, and knowing what I taught you, it will open to you. As I am writing this, my clan has been decimated by the King of Ardismoth. The Elder has found a way to protect us as we cannot leave Thriviel due to the lack of magic residues anywhere else. Choerry, I entrust you the quest of summoning my sisters and I back so we can finally resolve our battle for revenge. Signed Jinsoul."

They all stayed silent, their eyes focused on the almost-400-years-old text. Jungeun blinked a few times, while Jiwoo had her jaw slacked and remained frozen.

"Sorry, can someone explain that but in simple? 'Cuz that was not normal," Yeojin said, breaking the tense vibe.

"Uh, well, basically, Jinsoul is telling Choerry to find her and the remaining witches so they can talk their fight out," Chaewon said, frowning.

"Why were we able to open this book if it says that it will open to Choerry?" Jiwoo asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Jinsoul was a witch, right? She must have taught her magic, and since Yeojin and Heejin are magic, it opened," Jungeun replied.

"Seeing and hearing ghosts is not magic," Heejin said, shaking her head. "It's just something that we can do. No one taught us anything."

"Maybe you inherited it."

"Well, let's try it out, then," Chaewon suggested.

She took the book away from Heejin and closed it, then gave it to Jungeun. The waitress placed it in front of her and, under everybody's gazes, opened the cover.

"It's blank," she stated.

"Flip the first page," Yeojin said, frowning at her turn.

Jungeun obliged, but the second page was also blank of ink. She looked up, her eyes shifting around as she pushed the book away and took a sip of her drink.

"Yeah, I'm not touching that again. You guys have magic powers, just accept it."

"That's ridiculous! Chaewon, you do it!" Yeojin said, giving the book to her friend.

The blonde flipped a few pages, but the book remained blank.

"I think she's right, guys…"

"This is incredible!" Jiwoo squealed. "I knew magic was real! I knew it, I knew it!"

Heejin tsked and grabbed the book from Chaewon and set it down, then opened the cover. The simple line 'For Choerry' had reappeared, and Heejin hurriedly flipped the page, landing on Jinsoul's paragraph. Heejin didn't know how to feel. Could she make things disappear like magicians, fly and control the weather, or was seeing ghosts the only thing she could do? She looked to her side and met Yeojin's anxious eyes, asking her a silent question. What did this mean?

"Let's read the next page," Chaewon suggested.

Heejin flipped the next page, her guts twisting in worry. She continued reading, everybody's eyes focused on her.

"Goods to buy at the village: three large bottles of milk, a goat, 27 tomatoes-"

"Aaaaand next page?" Yeojin asked.

"Today, I was exposed to the view of an odd newborn baby. It was as big as those small stray dogs that run the village."

"Jesus, can she just start writing about witch stuff?" Chaewon complained.

"Look, it's not my fault! It  _ is _ a diary, after all!" Heejin said, flipping to the next page. "This says: Bora has told me that Siyeon has tried to learn a new spell named  _ Amorem Brevi  _ and use it on Minji, but she failed. Bora appeared vexed through her mockery. I hope she can finally admit that she cares for her in a way that is different than friendship."

"Wait, this is juicy gossip," Jiwoo said, leaning forward to read the text. "What happened to Bora after that?"

"C'mon Heejin, what happened to Bora?" Jungeun teased.

"Guys, she's probably, like, dead," Chaewon replied, deadpan.

"We don't have time for that!" Yeojin said.

She took the book away from Heejin and flipped a few pages, skipping over the diary part until she stopped and turned the book around so everybody could see. The writing was less applied and harder to read as if it was rushed. There were two portraits drawn to the right part of the page and a long paragraph on the other side. The first drawing was from the waist up of a woman with black horns coming out of her head going back into a wave-like manner, twisting at the end to bring the tips up. Her angelic face was framed by her hair cut to her chin, and her little smile gave her an air of mischief. The second portrait was a woman with long dark hair and a scornful face, her eyebrows slightly frowning and her nose scrunched. Two gigantic folded demon wings came out from her back and made her look more intimidating as if she was moments away from deploying them.

Two names had been written under the drawings, and Heejin gulped as Jungeun read them aloud.

"Haseul and Sooyoung."

"Choerry, here are the two other witches that you will have to wake up, along with myself," Chaewon read. "You have never seen them, which is why I drew them here. We are the last of what was our clan, and as the strongest, we have to stay alive. The Elder has made it very clear that when it is safe for us to come back, she will summon us, but I fear she will wait too long. She has decided to hide us away from humans, and I will document how to retrieve us. You will have to go through many obstacles to retrieve our personal items, which will, in return, summon us. It will be dangerous, it will be hard, and you will perhaps lose things that you care for, but please save us. When you find me, I will explain everything."

Heejin closed her eyes and put her face in her hands. This was beyond them, at this point. Were they really about to help vampires find witches? Were Hyunjin and Hyejoo even willing to help? Heejin was deadly afraid of ghosts, and seeing the drawings of actual sorceresses made the hair in the back of her neck rise. She was trying her best not to shake, but her legs trembled under the coffee table. They could run away now and never come back, but that would leave Jiwoo and Jungeun, along with the rest of the villagers, at the mercy of the sisters, and who knew what they could do?

Heejin flinched as Chaewon put her hand on her shoulder and squeezed. They both didn't say anything, but Heejin felt the tremble of her hand on her shoulder.

"You guys don't have to do this. We live here, we should be the ones to help Choerry and the sisters find the witches," Jiwoo said, her tone more serious.

Heejin looked up from her hands and smiled, grateful for her words. To her side, however, Yeojin shook her head.

"We appreciate it, but it's too dangerous for you guys to go or come with us. The vampires might think we're ganging up on them, and if we abandon them, it will cause more harm to you. Anyways, we'd waste an opportunity to make mad coin filming actual witches. Imagine the views!"

"Even if it's scary, we have to go," Chaewon agreed. "We said we would teach them how the 21st century worked, even if that includes magic."

The waitresses didn't say anything, but they bit their lips and nodded. Jungeun tapped her fingers on the table and jerked her chin towards them.

"Strangely enough, that name is familiar, right Jiwoo?"

"Which one?"

"Jinsoul."

"It must be from another one of your mom's legends, "Jiwoo said. "Maybe your ancestors knew her."

"Huh?" Chaewon said, frowning.

"Her parents own the restaurant," the woman explained. "It's a family heirloom, kinda. It's the only one in the village, so people eat there all the time. They have for... well, centuries really."

"You guys should get prepared for tonight," Jungeun said. "Read the rest with the sisters and bring anything that could help. Come by if you need anything, we'll be… wait, what time is it?"

"Huh, like almost two?" Yeojin said, checking her phone.

"Oh crap, we need to go to work!" Jiwoo exclaimed, jumping from her seat.

"Thank you for everything, guys," Heejin said. "Let's hang out when we come back from the castle!"

"For sure," Jungeun said.

She stood up and took her ice coffee, but stood still for a few seconds before clearing her throat.

"I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Filming material for our youtube channel," Yeojin replied, shaking her drink to access the last of her coffee.

"Well, anyway, good luck. Tell us if you find anything, or when you summon Jinsoul or whatever.

She waved her hand before leaving the terrace, soon followed by Jiwoo who jumped behind her, beaming at the trio. The trio of YouTubers stayed still and looked down at the diary, Heejin's eyes on the portraits. Jinsoul had done an excellent job of capturing the emotions on their faces, but that, unfortunately, freaked her out even more. Chaewon got up and replaced her chair, then grabbed her drink.

"Let's go back to the hotel. We need to gear up."

"Yeah," Yeojin said.

She picked up the book and put it in her bag, and Heejin followed, abandoning her glass on the table. She looked up at the sky, now partially covered with grey clouds hiding the sun. If that was an omen of some sort, Heejin decided to ignore it and followed her friends back to the car.

***

The tension in the car was so high that Heejin couldn't even look at her friends. She bit her nails and fidgeted around, playing with her Gopro™ attached to her coat, then looked at the rear-view mirror to check if the sword was still there. After all, it was the only advantage they had against… well, anything, really. It was still laying next to Yeojin, protected by its sheath they had put together with bits and pieces of wood and fabric and rope.

The sisters hadn't come to get them, so they had decided to go themselves, taking the old civic up the mountain again. Chaewon was squinting her eyes, trying her best not to crash the car in a tree. The night sky filled with clouds made it almost impossible to see, and their broken headlights didn't help.

"You know, we've never seen them drink blood," Chaewon said, popping the silence bubble. "Maybe they aren't real vampires."

"But Hyejoo said that they drink animal blood," Heejin objected. "I heard them at the pyre when they were arguing."

"Maybe they're too nice to drink from humans and jumped on Chaewon to scare us," Yeojin said, laughing.

Chaewon grunted and rolled her eyes, but Heejin laughed, mocking the blonde.

After a few minutes, they emerged from the forest and drove to the entrance, avoiding the blocs of rock that had fallen from the outer wall. Chaewon stopped the car right before the tall arch, and they jumped out, Yeojin handing the sword to her friend. Chaewon attached the rope around her waist and immediately almost fell to the side.

"Maybe you should hit the gym, Chae. Looks like you lost the small amount of strength you had," Yeojin said, skipping past her.

"Get lost, Yeojin. You're allergic to  _ metal _ ."

"As usual, cameraman Heejin is on the scene, filming those two fighting again! Tonight, we have to find the sisters and go on an adventure!"

"A possibly deadly adventure!" Yeojin added, raising her index finger. "Chaewon has the sword, but she might not be able to lift it, so we really have nothing for us."

"We have the book of spells slash witch diary in your bag, but you guys won't admit you have magic powers," Chaewon replied, readjusting the weapon on her waist.

Heejin clenched her jaw but didn't say anything. She did, in fact, refuse to use the spells in the book, because who knew what would happen if she was actually able to do magic tricks. Ignorant is bliss, as Trump once said. She took the lead, walking through the high grass to the chemin de ronde, where she climbed the steps and tiptoed inside the keep.

"The vampires forgot to come to get us, so we came to their crib," she whispered, afraid to disrupt the silence. "We don't have a protective circle today, so we have to trust them. I hope they don't freak out when we show them the book. I also hope that they know who this Choerry is. Maybe she's dead, and all hope is lost. Who knows!"

She emerged into the throne room, but the chandelier wasn't lit. She took out her phone and flashed her light around, looking around for cobwebs and debris. Behind her, she heard her friends whisper and the crunch of their shoes on old decaying wood.

"Hey, isn't Sunday like, the day to have a Sabbath? Maybe they're dancing somewhere," Yeojin said. "I read that once. They used to do that all the time in the 1600s."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chaewon said.

"Yeojin? Reading a book? Am I dreaming?" Heejin said, twirling around to focus the camera on the duo.

"It was an online article, but whatever I guess."

"You are not immune to propaganda, Yeojin."

"Guys, let's just focus on finding them."

Chaewon took the lead and climbed up the steps leading to the throne, looking behind the chair back as she turned on her own Gopro™.

"Not there."

"Why would they be hiding there, idiot?"

"Yeojin I swear to God-"

Heejin walked around the room, flashing her light around as she tried to find clues. There was so sign of struggle or blood, and everything was as they had left it. Even the salt circle was on the ground, left untouched. She looked at the walls, trying to find some sort of exit. Something caught her attention when the light illuminated another way out she had never seen before.

"Guys, there's a door here," she said, pointing to a small hole in the wall.

"That's a hole  _ in _ a door, actually," Chaewon said.

Yeojin ran to Heejin's spot and crouched in front of the door, making her way to the other side.

"There're steps here. I'm gonna follow them."

"We might get lost. Does anyone have a rope or something?" Chaewon said, looking around.

"I have part of a baguette in my bag," Heejin suggested, taking out the bread. "I was gonna eat it later though…"

"That will do."

The blonde took the baguette and detached a piece, then threw it on the ground in front of the hole. She nodded and smiled, then followed Yeojin to the other side. Heejin scrambled to not be left alone and followed her friends down the stairs. Thankfully, the debris had been pushed to the sides as well, clearing them a path to the exit. Yeojin bounced down, flashing her light around. Chaewon detached another piece of bread, and Heejin pouted, regretting her choice. After a good minute of going down and almost tripping on cracked steps, Heejin was beginning to wonder if they were getting lost. She had no idea how the architecture of a castle, after all. The ceiling was low, the walls were almost crushing them, and she felt trapped.

Chaewon threw another piece of bread, but it bounced off back to them, so they all stopped abruptly. At the end of the steps, a door was slightly ajar, enough to see the grass on the ground.

"Turn off your lights!" Chaewon urged.

They did as such, surprised by her tone of voice. In the dark, Heejin noticed the light of the moon, shining brightly through the crack in the door. Chaewon spied through the opening, waving at them to get closer. Heejin looked at Yeojin, who just shrugged and walked to their friend.

"What's going on-"

"Shhh!" Chaewon whispered, putting her finger on her mouth. "Just look. I think I saw something move."

Heejin gulped, her stomach starting to churn. She crouched to have a good spot under Chaewon and looked out, hoping a serial killer wasn't on the other side.

Technically, she was right. In the bright light of the moon, the sisters were sitting in a circle in a clearing, bent over something that looked like… the remains of a goat. Heejin heaved and put a hand on her mouth and looked away, trying to cut out the sounds of ripping skin.

"Oop," Yeojin whispered, her face slowly draining of colour.

"Hyejoo, it is your turn to fetch the humans," Hyunjin said, her teeth dug in the poor animal's neck.

Even from afar, Heejin could see her shining yellow eyes and she gulped, now more scared than anything. To her side, Yerim grabbed a leg and pulled, and Heejin looked away again. Maybe she would turn vegan after this.

"I refuse. Yerim should go back."

"She went last time. I am the queen, and I decided that you will go."

"You are not the leader anymore, sister," Hyejoo answered, her tone mocking. "We are all equal in our luck, and you have no sword to challenge me. Moreover, humans have moved past the need for kings and queens."

"The ashen-haired one was right, you are a prick. You will listen to me now, or I will dig the heart out of your ribcage."

"Sisters, I beg of you, let us finish our meal, and I will go fetch the humans-"Yerim said, getting up, but she was pushed back down by Hyunjin.

"Hush, Yerim. I will teach the brat how to behave. It is clear Father has never taught her anything."

"He would not! Do you think he gave anything to Yerim and I? You had his undivided attention and his full punishments. I pity you, sister."

The YouTubers all widened their eyes and grimaced, knowing what was going to happen next. Hyunjin dropped the goat and stood up, too quick for Hyejoo to do anything. Heejin blinked, and the next moment Hyunjin had her foot on her sister's throat. Yerim stopped moving, but Hyejoo clawed at her foot and dug her feet in the ground, squirming underneath her. Hyunjin didn't move.

"Do not forget that I am stronger than you, Hyejoo. You are only powerful because of the curse, but I was trained to be Queen of Thriviel. You are  _ nothing _ to me."

Chaewon tried to move away, but she lost her balance and pushed herself back up with the door, which in return opened with a loud creaking noise. Heejin closed her eyes, adding this moment to her list of 'due ass whoopings'. The vampires turned their heads towards them, and the trio stayed frozen, the blonde's hand still in the air.

"Hi," Yeojin squeaked.

"W-We came here ourselves," Heejin explained.

"We literally just pushed this door. It was on purpose. We didn't see you there," Chaewon said. "Where are we?"

The vampires didn't say anything, but they quickly looked down at their meal and Hyejoo immediately ran at them while the other two gathered the remains. Heejin screamed, but the woman just turned them all around and slammed the door shut.

"Do not look! Give us more time!"

"I'm sorry!" Yeojin yelled.

The only had to wait for a minute before Hyejoo opened the door again. Her mouth was covered with blood, as well as her dress that she had put back on. They all didn't say anything and just looked at her, terrified.

"You… um… we were eating."

"Yep," Chaewon confirmed, still wide-eyed.

"Hey, you kinda have something… there…" Heejin said, pointing at her mouth.

Hyejoo lightly passed a hand on her lips and looked at her red fingers, then widened her eyes and gasped. She turned around and ran to the end of the clearing, out of view. The other two sisters were coming towards them, cleaned up and wearing the clothes the humans had lent.

"My apologies. We do not like being observed when we eat," Yerim said, smiling shyly. "We ourselves do not like eating."

"Yeah, that's cool," Yeojin said, shaking her head quickly.

"Why are you here?" Hyunjin said, standing with her arms crossed on her chest.

Heejin looked at Yeojin, and the younger girl nodded and rummaged in her bag and took the diary.

"We know how to find the witches."

***

The sisters were sitting in a line in front of them, their eyes stuck on the book. Hyejoo had come back wearing Chaewon's hoodie, and the girl couldn't help but feel a bit bad for her. Her brother never fought that hard with her, and she couldn't imagine how hurt the girl was. Hyunjin was totally ignoring her, having chosen to sit the farthest away from her.

Yeojin flipped the first page, and as always, 'For Choerry' appeared.

"This is Jinsoul's diary. We read it a bit, but we wanted to show you guys this name first. Do you guys know who Choerry is?"

Hyunjin and Hyejoo shook their heads, but Yerim didn't move. Chaewon looked at Heejin, and the girl shrugged.

"Yerim, do you know who Choerry is?" Yeojin asked.

The vampire looked at her sisters, who were both frowning as they looked at her. Yerim clenched her jaw and looked at the humans, nodding.

"Jinsoul gave me this nickname."

"You disgust me," Hyejoo spat, glaring at her.

"Ok, guys, let's not get side-tracked," Heejin said. "It says it will open to Choerry, and we were able to open it, so we figured people with magic can see what's written. Apparently interacting with ghosts counts. That means Jinsoul knew you would find this book, Yerim."

"You possess magic, Yerim?" Hyunjin asked, genuinely surprised.

"She came to me for that reason," Yerim explained, lowering her head. "It is not much."

Hyejoo got up and started pacing, shaking her head.

"You are a witch, yet, you are here with us. Why did you never tell me?"

"I am not a witch, but still, you paid no attention to me," Yerim replied, squinting her eyes. "All you did was go down to the village and play with your friends. I made my own friend."

"Again, let's not get side-tracked," Chaewon said, flipping the next few pages.

She landed on the two portraits, and she started explaining.

"Basically, we have to find Jinsoul, along with Haseul and Sooyoung. She wrote that they were put to sleep by the Elder and that we have to find one personal item for each of the witches, and with that, we can summon them, and you can fight them or something."

"Chaewon!" Heejin exclaimed.

"What? That's not my problem, they can do what they want!"

"How do we find the items?" Hyunjin asked.

"We were there. We wanted to read the rest with you guys," Yeojin said.

She flipped the next page, and Hyejoo leaned in to read.

"Today, I saw her again. It hurts to see her son play with the other children, but I am glad about my decision. What is this?" Hyejoo said, looking up at the trio.

"I told you it was her diary," Yeojin said, flipping to another page. "Here, that looks legit."

' Trials' was written at the top of the page in big letters, and farther down the text was cut in three paragraphs. Chaewon leaned in and cleared her throat before reading out loud.

"You have to go through quests to summon us. The first is the Trial of Courage, and it will lead you to Haseul. The second one is the Trial of the Mind for Sooyoung, and the last is the Trial of Sacrifice. It will give you my item."

"Geez, that doesn't sound too friendly," Yeojin said.

"You have to perform the ritual on the day of the full moon, and that leaves you three days to complete the trials. Otherwise, you will have to wait for months for another chance. The next full moon is on the Wednesday of the next week. I hope you find this diary before it is too late. Good luck, Choerry."

They all stayed silent, aware that it had been too late the first time. It was almost 400 years later.

"The next full moon is also this Wednesday," Chaewon said, breaking the silence. "Does that mean we have three days to complete the trials?"

"Looks like it," Heejin agreed.

The vampires didn't say anything and looked at the ink on the paper. Hyejoo suddenly looked up, a grin plastered on her face.

"It cannot be that hard, agreed? Let us commence the journey this instant."

"Yes, we cannot risk missing again," Yerim said, getting up. "We have the book for indications."

"And the sword for any potential fight," Hyunjin added, eyeing the sword on Chaewon's waist, but she suddenly frowned. "Wait, is it still dull? Why did you not sharpen it?"

"Where? I didn't see any forge in this village!" the blonde said, putting her hands on her hips.

Hyunjin pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, whispering under her breath. Chaewon was about to say something else, but the vision of bits and pieces of goat made her think otherwise.

"I guess that's it. Are your cameras on?" Yeojin asked, closing the book and getting up at her turn.

"Always," Heejin said, throwing a thumbs up.

"Alright! Let's find them witches!" Chaewon exclaimed, throwing her fist in the air.

Heejin smiled, glad to see that everybody's spirits were so high. With a bright attitude, she knew it would be easy to find the items in no time.


	6. The Trial of Courage part 1: Funkytown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm so sorry for that weird-ass mini hiatus, I was (and still am) ✨ moving ✨ and I have no internet!
> 
> But yeah soon enough I'll update more frequently so don't lose hope lmao  
> ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They were wrong. Heejin looked down at the book, then back up. Yep, that was indeed the Cave of Death. But how were they supposed to find Haseul in a cave to leads to nowhere?

“Are you guys sure this is the right place?” Chaewon called from beside her.

“Countless adventurers have wondered the cave and never returned. I have ventured this location with my father’s men, this is the place,” Hyunjin confirmed, standing at the entrance.

Her sisters were standing at her sides, Hyejoo with her arms crossed on her chest and Yerim curiously looking in. They had had to drive down the winding dirt road leading to the bottom of the mountain, as the village was halfway up, then they had to park to the side of the road. Hyunjin was the only one that knew where the cave was, but with 372 years of plant regrowth and the addition of bright signs, it was harder to find. Thank goodness for her sense of direction, or they would have lost an entire night looking for the damn cave.

“Heejin, read what it says again. This can’t be the place,” Yeojin said, tapping her foot on the ground.

“The Trial of Courage will lead you to Haseul,” Heejin read out loud, faking a British accent as she used her finger as a moustache. “The entrance is the Cave of Death, where she has set her private quarters. Be careful, Choerry. Haseul would never intentionally hurt you, but she is a master of illusions. She has protected our clan for many centuries now, and she is valuable to the Elder. Completing the trial will give you her white bird. Do not fail.”

“And what the  _ fuck  _ does that mean?” Chaewon exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.

Heejin sighed and looked outside, but the surrounding trees hid any stars that were starting to come out. The only source of light was the moon that shone through the branches, right into the vampires that were refusing to come inside, forming a halo around their heads. Heejin couldn’t help but try to take a picture, mesmerized by the beauty of the scene. Of course, when she looked down at her phone, the women were nowhere to be seen.

“God really has a thing against homosexuals,” she whined, tapping her foot on the ground.

“God or no God, you need to cease this behaviour,” Chaewon said. “We don’t know what they plan, and by the looks of it, Hyunjin and Hyejoo are gonna throw Yerim under the bus along with us.”

“You’re just jealous because I’m out and proud. I know you imagined Hyejoo pinning you down instead, back in the clearing.”

“Don’t you dare-“the blonde said, raising her voice, but Heejin put her finger on her mouth and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“Mons-ter fuc-ker.”

Chaewon punched her right on the jaw, and Heejin fell on her butt, whining loudly as she rubbed her cheek.

“Guys, can you please kink-shame Heejin in the comments? Y’all know she deserves it,” Chaewon said, moving her Gopro™ towards her face.

“Guyyyyys, what are we gonna do? If we don’t find Haseul’s pigeon, we won’t be able to help Yerim!” Yeojin said from the back of the cave.

This time, the youngest had gone all out on her witch-hunting equipment. She had put a padded black leather jacket, night vision goggles, studded boots and last but not least, a collection of Harry Potter wands stuck in a belt. Heejin still wasn’t sure what they were for.

“Search for a hidden trap,” Hyejoo screamed back, pointing at the ground.

“You search!”

“I will not! I am the princess of Ardismoth, the commoners work for me.”

“I thought the humans were past the need for kings and queens?” Hyunjin said, looking down at her hands.

Hyejoo rolled her eyes and looked at her sister, putting a hand on her hip, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she elbowed Yerim in the ribs and grunted.

“Well then, why don’t we all walk in? Or perhaps you are too frightened?”

“I am not,” Yerim squeaked. “But sister said not to go in-“

“Alright, let me go first, then,” Hyunjin said, frowning. “You all know countless lives have been lost in this exact location, but I will put my life in danger to satisfy your curiosity,” she continued, her tone mocking.

She quickly lifted her foot to take a step, but she slowed down and put her toes just centimetres farther away from her other foot. Heejin couldn’t help but chuckle, and Hyunjin glared at her, her cheeks getting red.

“I’m tired of looking!” Yeojin exclaimed, still at the back of the cave. “I’m taking a brea-aaaaah!”

Heejin looked behind her, surprised by her scream, but when she flashed her light, no one was there.

“Yeojin?” She called, tightly gripping her phone.

“Don’t start now,” Chaewon said, frowning as she put her hands on her hips. “I know you love jump scares, but we have something to do.”

No one answered, and the two remaining humans looked at each other in panic. Where the hell was she? Yerim gulped audibly and walked into the cave and past the duo to the back of the cave. Heejin and Chaewon followed her, looking around for their friend.

“Yerim, this cave is not safe,” Hyunjin said, but the vampire ignored her and put her hands around her mouth.

“Yeojin!”

“Down here!”

They all jumped back, and Heejin tripped on a rock and fell back on her butt. She slowly got up, grunting again while Yerim looked around frantically.

“Where are you?”

“I fell down a hill, but I just scratched my knees a bit. Hold up, let me climb up.”

Heejin squinted her eyes, trying her best to locate a hill but to no avail.

“What do you mean, a hill? There’s sweet fuck-all here!” She exclaimed.

“I don’t know man, I just went through the wall, and I ended up here!”

“Through the wall?” Chaewon asked.

Suddenly, Yeojin reappeared in front of them like she had taken off an invisibility cape. She rubbed one of her knees and grinned at them.

“Sup?”

“Jesus Christ!” Chaewon said, slapping a hand on her chest.

“What… How…?” Hyejoo asked, taking a few steps inside the cave.

“Beats me! I went to lean of the rocks and boom! I was rolling down a rocky hill! You guys gotta see this!”

Yerim looked at the wall and slowly, under Heejin’s gaze, tried knocking on the rock. Her hand disappeared like absorbed by the stones, and the vampire quickly took her hand out and took a few steps back. She looked back at them, smiling. Of course, Chaewon was busy scolding the youngest girl while Hyejoo was exploring the cave. Hyunjin was still trying her best to get in.

“Jinsoul explained that Haseul’s power was illusions, right Heejin?”

“Huh… Yeah?”

“It explains why Yeojin fell through! There is something on the other side!”

With that, she ran at the wall and went through, ignoring Hyunjin who was yelling at her. Heejin blinked a few times and shrugged. If anything, the viewers would be entertained by her smashing into rocks. She inhaled loudly and closed her eyes, then ran at the wall as fast she could, just like she would if the 9 and 3/4 gates really existed. She didn’t smash into anything, but she lost her footing and tripped, falling face-first onto a tilted flat surface.

“Are you hurt?” She heard Yerim ask.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Guys? Where the hell are you?” Chaewon screamed.

“On the other side! Yeojin was right!” Heejin said.

She got up and looked around her, dusting the shards of rock off her shirt. Heejin hadn’t realized, but the new cave was lighted by green floating light balls, revealing the steep ‘hill’ leading down to a dark pit. The human scrambled to get away, grabbing into a stalagmite and pushing herself up. This hidden part of the cave was more spacious, but the crack spun from side to side, making it impossible to cross to the other side.

“This is beautiful,” Yerim said, centimetres away from the abyss. “Magic is truly wonderful.”

“Can you like, move away?” Heejin asked. “You’re gonna fall, and I don’t want our video to be banned like that one from Logan Paul- oh wait, you’re invisible, okay, never mind!”

“The legends were right, the voice of our dead companions echo through the Cave of Death!” Hyunjin screeched.

“We’re not dead! Just follow me!” Yeojin said, and suddenly she was at the top of the hill, smiling brightly. “I’m still alive!”

An arm popped out of the wall, and Chaewon slowly appeared, her eyes widening at the scene.

“Oh, wow. Can you guys see this? Write in the comments what you think the light is because I am not touching that.”

“See what?” Hyejoo said, appearing to her right. “Oh. This.”

“I will not remain behind,” Hyunjin said, and she walked across to their side, her arms crossed over her face.

She waited a few seconds to peak through her arms and finally regained her composure. She cleared her throat and pushed the others to take the lead, walking down the hill to the pit. Yeojin followed her and stopped next to Heejin, making sure her Gopro™ was filming.

“Heejin, get up, you’re embarrassing us in front of the viewers,” she said, kicking the poor girl on the shin.

“Do you not see the pit? I don’t want to die!” Heejin exclaimed, tightening her grip on the stalagmite.

“Speaking of pits, are we supposed to cross? We need to find a bird or something, and it’s not here,” Chaewon said.

“Please, don’t mention the bird,” Heejin whimpered.

“But how do we cross? The other side is too far away,” Hyejoo remarked. “Yerim is the only one who could have a chance.”

“Can’t you guys, like, jump super high and carry us to the other side? I’ve seen that in Twilight,” Yeojin said.

Yerim looked at Hyunjin, who just grimaced and ran a hand through her hair.

“We… do not comprehend the full length of our powers. We have only been stuck in this form since winter,” she explained. “If we take a risk, we could endanger ourselves.”

“Man, this blows. At this rate, we’ll lose this night,” Chaewon whined, her sword screeching on a rock as she sat down.

“There has to be another way,” Yerim said, but no one answered.

The other side was at least ten meters away (33 feet), so there was no way to cross it with their current abilities. Heejin sighed and sat down, and Yeojin did the same, putting her chin in her hand. The vampires stayed up, silently re-evaluating their surroundings.

“Fuck it, let’s play that Snapchat game with the old vines filter,” Yeojin said. She turned her head to look at her. “Heejin?”

“Not in the mood.”

“I’ll play,” the blonde said.

“Fantastic. Okay, I go first. Whoever threw that paper.”

“Your mom’s a hoe, classic” Chaewon answered, nodding. “My turn. Aaahhh stop.”

“I could’ve dropped my croissant!” Yeojin exclaimed, pointing at her. “Okay okay, uhhhh, okay, hi welcome to-“

“Chili’s!” Chaewon screamed. “You’re no good, duck!”

“You’re just, like, your father!”

“I DON’T NEED NO DEGREE-“

“TO BE A CLOTHING HANGER!”

Heejin took a rock on the ground and started playing with it, frowning as she tried to think of anything that could help. A green ball floated in front of her nose, and she blew it away, illuminating the first few meters leading a certain death. They didn’t have anything that could act as a bridge, Yerim couldn’t lift them to the other side, and they couldn’t go down the pit since it was too deep. Well, that’s something she unconsciously decided, but you were never too sure in life. She looked at the rock in her hand, and as Chaewon was screeching “Merry Chrysler”, she threw it down the pit. Except, it didn’t go down the pit. It stopped moving, like floating at feet level. Heejin froze, her jaw slacked.

“I love you bitch!”

“Ain’t never gonna stop loving you, bitch!”

“What are you saying? Nothing of it makes sense!” Hyejoo exclaimed.

“Sister, I could throw you to the other side,” Yerim said, acting out the motion of throwing a small object under Hyunjin’s horrified gaze. “If I hold your tail-“

“Um, guys? Can you come check this out?”

Hyunjin quickly left Yerim’s side and stood next to Heejin, looking down at her. One of her fangs was pointing out of her mouth, and Heejin couldn’t help but think it was cute. Deadly but cute.

“What is it?”

“T-t-the rock is f-floating,” Heejin stuttered, pointing at the hovering object.

Hyunjin squinted her eyes and looked around until she found the rock. She kneeled close to the edge and moved her hand around in the void, like looking for something. Heejin grabbed one of her jeans’ belt loop, afraid the vampire would fall.

“What are you doing?” Hyunjin growled, looking back at her.

“I just… wanted to help you?”

“I do not need your help. Everything I have done, I have done myself.”

“Getting help isn’t a bad thing,” Heejin said quietly, looking away from the woman. “It doesn’t mean you’re weak, it means you have people that care about you.”

Hyunjin clenched her jaw and glared at her, but Heejin avoided her piercing yellow eyes, slightly afraid the girl would decide to eat her here and there.

“No one cares about me, Heejin of Jeon.”

She returned to her task, but let Heejin keep a hold on her jeans. The human silently exhaled all the air stuck in her lungs and looked at the back of Hyunjin’s head. Heejin knew the vampire must have had a hard life if she was saying stuff like this. For her, it was obvious that Yerim and Hyejoo cared, even if the youngest didn’t act like it. Something seemed to dig a barrier between her and her sisters, and Heejin was determined to help. Hell, even she cared about Hyunjin. Yes, they had only met, like what, two days ago? But they went through some stuff! At this point, weren’t they friends?

Hyunjin tapped her hand on the void and made an actual noise, which made Heejin jolt back, dragging the poor vampire with her. Heejin tripped on a broken stalagmite and fell over with a squeak, followed by Hyunjin. The vampire was quick enough to slam her hands on both sides of her head instead of falling on her face. The human held her breath, her gaze locked on golden eyes. Hyunjin’s cheeks turned pink, but she didn’t move a muscle, like frozen on the spot. They looked at each other for a few seconds, and Heejin’s mind went blank.

“Do… do you listen to girl in red?” She whispered, the beating of her heart increasing by the second.

“What’s all that gay activity, Heejin?” Yeojin teased, making sure her camera was pointing at her friend.

Like getting out of a trance, Hyunjin shook her head and got off Heejin, walking a few feet away as she brushed the non-existence dust on her jeans.

“I wish, but-“

“I have found a way to cross to the other side,” Hyunjin interrupted.

“Um… How?” Chaewon said, raising one eyebrow skeptically.

“As Yerim pointed out, Haseul is mentioned to be a master of illusions, hence why I believe she has purposely hidden a bridge. Observe, Heejin’s pebble is currently floating above the abyss, correct?”

“Uh, yeah?” Heejin said, trying her best to understand what the woman was saying.

“This quest is named the Trial of Courage. I believe the witch is testing our resolve by hiding the correct path,” Hyunjin finished, smiling smugly.

“That is a brilliant observation, sister!” Yerim exclaimed. “I will try it out, as I am the only one exempt of failure for this test.”

“Are you sure it’s not too dangerous?” Yeojin asked, frowning the best she could with night vision goggles hiding half her face.

The vampire walked to the edge of the pit and slowly reached out with her foot. It was true Yerim could just transform into a bat if she fell, but Heejin still hid her eyes with her hands. She did peek, though, too curious. Basically, Hyunjin had said there was an invisible bridge. If she was correct, then Yerim….

“Oh, this is different than I thought,” the vampire said, one foot resting on the firm ground of the cave, the other floating in the void. “It is not linked.”

“What do you mean?” Yeojin asked, one leg curled around a stalagmite as she was pulling a rope from her bag.

“This is not a bridge, it is multiple floating flat rocks.”

“Fucking superb!” Chaewon exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. “Just what I needed! Do you guys hear that bullshit?”

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a new edition of ‘ _ not seeing where we step _ ’,” Heejin announced, throwing a peace sign at Yeojin’s camera. “Today’s sponsorship is brought to you by the Crazy Witches, a group of women that sell biodegradable fear trapped in the form of invisible death traps.”

“Man, wouldn’t that be a sick product, though?” Yeojin said, shaking her head in awe.

“We have no time to waste,” Hyejoo said. “Sister, lead the way, and we will follow.”

Heejin didn’t really believe in God, hell, she had only been to church twice in her life, but she still drew the cross across her body with her fingers (bottom, up, right and left… right?). Of course, Yerim went first, Yeojin’s rope tied around her waist, followed by Hyejoo. Yeojin carefully crawled from invisible rock to invisible rock, sometimes getting dragged by the collar by the dark-haired vampire. Heejin gulped and looked down at the abyss, and her knees almost gave in. Slowly but surely, she did the same as Yeojin and crawled over the pit. The rocks were wide and only ten centimetres apart, which gave her a bit of reassurance. Almost like a caterpillar, she grabbed a rock and pushed her body towards the other side.

“Hyunjin.”

Heejin looked back, surprised to see Chaewon putting her hand on the vampire’s shoulder. Both of them were still on the ground, Hyunjin taking back her foot from the first floating rock.

“What?”

“We all saw what you did earlier in the clearing, and I’ve been thinking about it for a while. You were mean to Hyejoo for no reason.”

Hyunjin clenched her jaw and glared at the blonde, but Chaewon stood still, unbothered.

“I think you should apologize.”

“She had been disrespectful to me. You do not understand.”

“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have stepped on her neck if you still lived in your castle with all your maids and guards,” Chaewon said, squinting her eyes. “Listen, I’ll use your language: You gave in to anger and acted wrongly. Act like a decent heir to the throne and apologize to Hyejoo.”

Hyunjin moved so quickly that when Heejin blinked, her hand was already grasping Chaewon’s pastel green sweater. The vampire opened her mouth to show her teeth and hissed. Heejin wasn’t sure if she was scared shitless or just more in love. Maybe she was a furry enthusiast after all.

“Monsters have no manners, human. I can treat Hyejoo however I desire. I would rather feed on you than have her gain the upper hand on me.”

“If you eat me, you’ll have no one to carry your dumb silver sword,” the girl said, pointing to the weapon on her waist. “Plus, you don’t scare me. You need us to find the witches and beat them up or whatever, and we’re the only ones qualified for the job. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an invisible dumb bridge to cross.”

Chaewon bumped into Hyunjin, effectively pushing her to the side. Heejin gulped and continued to crawl to the other side, where the rest of the group was waiting for them. After a good minute, her feet were finally resting on the other side, and she sunk to her knees, trembling.

“Can we never do this again?”

“I cannot promise anything, but I hope we never have to,” Yerim said, trying to cheer her up.

Chaewon soon followed behind her and finally, Hyunjin put her feet down without a word. Heejin glanced at them, but they were acting as if nothing happened, so she let it slide.

“Alright! Let’s move on, I’m sure we’ll find the bird if we go on this way!” Yeojin exclaimed, pointing at the dark tunnel in front of them.

“Do your cameras still have storage?” Heejin asked, looking at hers that was at 37%.

“Yeah, for now. If anything, Yeojin has spare ones,” the blonde said.

“On we go! Let us find this magical bird,” Hyejoo said, grinning at them. “I cannot wait to strangle those demons!”

“Yay, strangling,” Chaewon said sarcastically, raising her arm in the air.

***

“Why are you acting so nice for?”

“What?”

“I heard what you said to Hyunjin. I thought you said not to get attached to them,” Heejin replied, shrugging as she skipped over a broken stalactite. The light of her phone trembled when she landed, illuminating the multitude of rock shards scattered around the path.

Chaewon looked down at her feet and didn’t say anything for a while, so they both continued to walk behind a yacking Yeojin, who was telling a few ghosts stories to Hyejoo and Yerim.

“…And the moment I started playing Yummy by Justin Bieber, BAAM! This ghost named Jihan fucking  _ destroyed _ the staircase I was on, and I almost died! And we’re not even at the part where Heejin thought Chaewon was a ghost and threw a brick at her!”

“It was unfair. She didn’t deserve it,” Chaewon finally answered, looking at the two chuckling vampires. “Doesn’t matter if she’s a human or a vampire, she still has feelings. They must be disoriented and afraid, so I do understand why Hyunjin would try to bring some order back in place. That still doesn’t excuse what she did.”

Heejin nodded, looking down. The trio was always so secretive that she hadn’t really noticed the hierarchy. While Yerim and Hyejoo seemed equal, Hyunjin put herself over them and acted tough, ordering them around like they were her servants.

“I think Hyunjin doesn’t understand how she’s supposed to act with them,” she said, kicking a rock.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember Yerim’s story in the hotel? She said Hyunjin grew up to be the queen while the other two were left alone. And Hyejoo saying their dad never gave the last two anything? Maybe she never really… talked to them before this whole curse-shitshow,” Heejin explained. “It doesn’t look like they know much about each other.”

Chaewon hummed but didn’t say anything.

***

They finally reached the end of the tunnel and walked into another cave, which was also illuminated by floating green balls of different sizes. Heejin dodged one the size of a car and flipped it off before catching up to the rest of the group. Chaewon was never one to study in sciences and math (she skipped most of her classes and took psychology in college, which ranked as the easiest major), but she was still impressed by the size of the laboratory standing in front of her eyes. At the end of the cave, there was a desk made of rock covered by multiple cobweb-covered lab instruments, half-empty jars of different coloured liquids and one strand of blonde hair trapped between large tweezers. The group silently walked to the odd structure and wandered around. Behind the desk, long transparent tubes were interconnected with each other, like a centuries-old game of snakes and ladders. Glasses were hanging from a horizontal pipe, and Yerim carefully took them in her hands.

“They must be Haseul’s,” Heejin said, coming closer to take a look. “One of the lenses is cracked.”

“People had glasses in the Renaissance?” Yeojin asked, squinting her eyes.

“Are you serious?” Chaewon said, taking a seat at the desk. Her sword bumped on a chair leg, but the old wood stayed strong.

“Obviously I’m  _ joking _ ,” the youngest said, but she glanced at the vampires as if asking if Chaewon was right.

The blonde took the tweezers in her hands and squinted her eyes.

“What the hell is this?”

“Ashen hair,” Hyejoo said, walking to the desk. “It is an infrequent sight, it must have been taken from the other witch to examine its origin.”

“It’s not that rare. Mine are dyed, but people are frequently born with blonde hair,” Chaewon said.

“I have only met two people like you. I thought it was a sign of malice, yet you seem to emit a different aura. Perhaps… it is why you pique my interest.”

Chaewon’s blood rushed to her cheeks, and she looked away, thinking to herself  _ ‘I said dyed, though’ _ . The blonde suddenly cleared her throat and put a hand on her hip, trying her best to act nonchalant. Hyejoo was making century-distancing a bit harder than she thought.

“What does claim mean?”

“I was never the best at grammar,” the vampire started, raising an eyebrow as she smiled, “but it is a verb, the act of wanting something as your own-“

“Not that! When you said you… like... claimed me, or whatever. Is that a vampire code or something?”

“Why would it be? It means what it means.” Chaewon grimaced and scoffed.

“Right. And what are you gonna do? Eat me when we find the magic hags?”

Hyejoo stopped smiling and looked around, then down at her feet.

“How old are you, Chaewon of Park?”

“Pfff… I don’t know, like-“

“You don’t know?” Yeojin exclaimed, crouched under a tube while Heejin was trying on the cracked glasses. “It’s like a week after mine!”

“I don’t even know my birthday, crouton! Why would I know yours? But yeah I’m like 22.”

“Crouton?! I could beat you up!”

Hyejoo grimaced and shook her head.

“You must already be married, then. Or promised to a man,” she whispered.

Chaewon choked on her saliva, but Hyejoo didn’t move, her eyes still stuck to the ground. The human looked around to make sure no one heard, but her friends were still acting like idiots and Yerim and Hyunjin were sniffing around in animal form, which reminded Chaewon she had never seen Hyejoo as a wolf.

“What the hell? Why… I mean, NO, oh my God I’m  _ gagging _ , NEVER!” Chaewon exclaimed. “What’s wrong with you?”

“By your age, most women have started a family,” the vampire explained. “Is it not your case?”

“Bro, you’re in the 21st century now, people don’t have to get married young! Also, I like… y’ know…  _ pu-ssey _ ,” Chaewon stuttered, her cheeks becoming pink.

She was a more private person than Heejin, who was the type to propose drunkenly in an IHOP at three AM to a girl she didn’t even know, and more in control of her feelings than Yeojin, who dropped multiple drinks at the sight of pretty girls walking down the street. Chaewon wasn’t the type to discuss her crushes in school or in life, and her friends teased her but respected her.

So admitting to being gay to a stranger, and a vampire with that was making her confused. She was going to explain herself, but she stopped when she saw Hyejoo’s puzzled face.

“What does that have to do with not getting married?”

“I don’t like men?” Chaewon asked, squinting her eyes.

“Oh! T-Then why did you say you like pussy?” Hyejoo asked, scratching the back of her neck.

“I mean, it’s a joke, I like women, and whatever’s down there, pussy is just a funny way to say it.”

“Down there? I do not understand. Are cats a body part, now?”

“Lmao WHAT?”


	7. The Trial of Courage part 2: Open heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here you go lesbians
> 
> Don't worry, I didn't forget about it! I just have a LOT of homework
> 
> P.S: tw for graphic descriptions of injuries??

A loud crashing noise interrupted their conversation, and Chaewon snapped her head towards the tubes. Heejin was standing in the middle of a pile of broken glass, her mouth agape as she held two broken tubes in her hands.

"Y'all, I fucked up solid."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Anything could be in those tubes, and you just let it escape!" Chaewon exclaimed.

"I thought I saw a hamster, blame my 1/20 vision!"

She took the opportunity to walk away from Hyejoo, still troubled by their discussion. Was the vampire asking if she was available? Or was she just curious? Was she mocking her? Chaewon shook her head, trying her best to focus on the mess. She patted her cheeks, trying to get the blood flowing.

"I'll call Jungeun to ask if there's a legend about Haseul and her weird-ass science experiments. Maybe you just unleashed the recipe for Frozen 3."

"I love Frozen!" Yeojin exclaimed.

"If I have to see Olaf on my screen ONE more time -"

Chaewon was suddenly interrupted by Hyunjin, who slammed her fist on the stone desk and split the top in two, making the parts fall to the ground.

"God's blood!"

"That was so hot," Heejin whispered, her eyes shining, and Chaewon rolled her eyes.

Yerim and Hyejoo almost broke their neck as they whipped their head at the speed of light to look at their sister. Hyunjin was holding half a book, the other part having been dissolved into dust on the ground. Hyejoo's eyes were bulging out of her skull, and Yerim gasped, putting a hand over her mouth.

"Sister, there is no need for such profanities," Yerim said in a small voice as if she was horrified.

"Knowledge is lost, how could I not be furious? It could have been a remedy to our curse, but now we will never know!"

"You know, you could ask the witches to make you human again," Yeojin suggested. "Like, we can trap them in a summoning circle, ask them to make you human, and then release them. Pretty simple if you ask me."

Yerim turned her head to look at the girl, her eyebrows frowned in concentration.

"Wait… You mean, using magic?"

"You can use magic voluntarily?" Hyejoo exclaimed, making her way to the small girl.

"Obviously? We told you about how they can see ghosts and open the magic diary," Chaewon replied. "Yeojin's protection circles don't require magic since I can also make one, but yeah, do you even listen when we talk?"

Hyejoo looked at her but didn't say anything. Chaewon looked away, fidgeting with the pommel of the sword.

"That is absurd. Multiple villagers could see ghosts, it is not a sign of magic," Hyunjin said, putting a hand on her hip.

The YouTube trio glanced at each other, then back at the vampires.

"I mean… it is magic…" Heejin said. "According to Jinsoul's diary, at least."

"Look, fine by me if you don't like magic, but we wouldn't be here if it weren't for you threatening us in the first place. Not only are we doing this for you, but we also have friends in that village that don't deserve to die because of your bitch fight with demon hags," Chaewon said, putting her hand on the handle of the sword resting at her hip. "If you don't like it, be my guest, and we'll gladly leave."

"Yeah!" Yeojin exclaimed, raising her fist in the air.

Hyunjin sighed and rose her hands in the air in defeat. "Do as you please. All we need is for you to help us, then you be on your way."

"Not one thank you, though?" Heejin asked.

"I only recall Yerim saying thanks," Yeojin said, squinting her eyes.

The vampire smiled and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "All is good, Yeojin. Now, why don't we try to find Haseul's bird before the sun rises?"

"Oh- um- yeah! Yep! Let's look!" She said, the words tumbling out of her mouth.

Chaewon frowned, shooting her friend a suspicious look. She was interrupted by Heejin slapping her hands on her shoulders and spinning her around.

"What the hell-"

"Well, are you gonna call Jungeun or what?"

"Oh, right."

Chaewon took her phone from her pocket and dialled the waitress's number, but nothing happened. Instead, a prerecorded message played. Chaewon rolled her eyes and pocketed her phone angrily.

"Crap."

"What's up?" Heejin asked.

"No signal. No kidding, we're in a cave after all."

"So how are we supposed to find that bird?"

Chaewon shook her head and looked around, noticing Hyejoo standing in front of a rock wall, eyeing her fist. Before Chaewon could even think of thinking about something, the vampire slammed her hand into the wall, effectively cracking it like a window. Blinking, Hyejoo took a few steps back.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Heejin exclaimed, her eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"I am testing my strength. My, do you not see this feat of power? I am incredible!"

"Continue like that, and you'll break Idaho in pieces!" Her friend replied.

"Screw this. Heejin, give me the diary."

Heejin looked in her bag and gave the book to Chaewon, making sure to open it beforehand then focused back on cooing at Hyunjin who was sniffing the ground in cat form. The blonde sat down next to a green floating ball and flipped through the pages, past the portraits and the first trial. She landed on the next page, where the writing was neater than before. She moved a strand of hair behind her ear and started reading.

"Choerry, use these spells during your journey. They will be of great use.

_ Obice Clypeus _ , the protection spell. Stand still as you chant the spell four times, and an impenetrable magic barrier will protect you.

_ Diaphaneitatem _ , the invisibility spell. Whisper this word, and you will disappear for a short lapse of time.

_ Suturis _ , the healing spell. Trace this word with the blood of the injured person. Jesus, that's nasty."

Chaewon flipped the page but kept these spells in mind. Since neither Yeojin nor Heejin wanted to read the damn diary, she would just have to yell those Latin words at them if they ever end up in a bad situation. The blonde flipped a few more pages, but she didn't see anything talking about where the bird was. She did land on poor funeral speeches drafts, though.

"I'm glad you could live the life you deserved (maybe put a memory here?). I will never regret abandoning my humanity for your happiness, but I regret not spending enough time with you. I hope that one day we meet again. (Now I need to make Sooyoung throw red rose petals over the grave. Will she accept? Sooyoung does not know me well. She might think that it is stupid.) Man, what the hell is this?" Chaewon mumbled, closing the book. She moved her Gopro™ towards her face and frowned. "Did you guys read that shit?"

"Guys, record this I'm gonna twerk in front of it!"

"Oh my God Heejin that's disgusting," Yeojin said as she grabbed her phone and pressed on the record button. "This is so going on our IG."

"In front of what?" Yerim asked innocently, tilting her head to the side.

"This bird made of rock!"

Chaewon snapped her head towards her friend. Heejin was standing close to a rock wall where a bird statue was like flying out towards them. It was a small bird, and noting was strikingly identifiable about it. Chaewon got up and jogged to the group under the statue, followed by vampire-Hyunjin. Chaewon hadn't forgotten their fight, but it seemed the woman was brushing it off as a simple conversation.

"A 'white bird' was inscribed in the diary, correct?" The vampire asked, taking a peek at the book in her hands.

"Yeah. How are we supposed to get it off the wall?"

"Yerim, fly up there and kick it or something," Heejin suggested.

"That will not do, a bat is not strong enough," Hyejoo interjected. "Perhaps we should search in the diary."

"Oh,  _ now _ you wanna use the book?" Yeojin teased, raising an eyebrow.

"It has not failed us yet, right?" The woman replied, raising an eyebrow at her turn.

The shadow of a grin appeared on her face, and Chaewon quickly looked away. She wasn't going to let Bella from Twilight: Breaking Dawn distract her from staying alive. She flipped through the pages and landed on the last part of the trial that she had missed before. The handwriting was messy, just like every part that wasn't about Jinsoul's private life.

"These trials were designed to be easily resolved by the Elder if she ever needs us to come back. For that reason, you will either have to acquire a moonstone or make a friend that has a third eye. To summon the white bird, point to the statue and call upon its past lives. Next, from what Haseul told me, capture the most ancient form. Good luck."

"Moonstones are rare here. I know of a land far north where they rest under the icy ground," Hyunjin said, scratching her head. "However, it is a week-long journey by foot, a bit less by horse. We would never make in time."

"Having a third eye is an expression for people that can see stuff that they shouldn't be seeing," Yeojin interjected, pointing at Heejin. "Take this moron. She can see ghosts!"

"Hey, first of all! What if I don't want to see more ghosts?" Heejin replied, looking down at her feet. "I really don't like birds."

Yerim took a few steps in her direction and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it. She smiled at Heejin reassuringly.

"As you girls say, you will be okay, Heejin. You can hide behind me if you desire."

Chaewon was beginning to think that Yerim was the only vampire that deserved rights. From the corner of her eyes, she caught Hyunjin scoffing and crossing her arms on her chest. Chaewon ignored it and focused back on the book.

"Yeojin, can you  _ Wingardium Leviosa _ this statue, please?"

"Fine. We'll see what I can do!"

Chaewon had seen her make protection circles multiple times, but other than that, Yeojin had never performed anything super out of the ordinary. The youngest relied heavily on gadgets she'd buy on Amazon (even after Heejin told her the truth about Jeff Bezos) and lived by them. Under everybody's careful gaze, Yeojin put her night-vision goggles over her eyes and pointed her finger at the statue menacingly. Chaewon gulped, clenching her fists in apprehension.

"I call upon your past lives, maggots for brains bird!"

"That's it, I'm out," the blonde said, dramatically dropping the diary on the ground.

"Crap, my camera's full," Heejin chirped.

Chaewon rubbed her hand over her eyes then shook her head, bracing herself for the next part. When she opened her eyes, the green balls of light had vanished, leaving their little group in the stifling darkness. Chaewon whipped her head around, calling out for her friends.

"Are you guys still there?"

"Can't see a damn thing, but I can hear you alright!" Yeojin replied from further away.

"Don't you have night vision goggles? Heejin?"

"This is worse than the blind-chase in the lighthouse in Florida," the girl whined.

"Yerim?" Chaewon called.

"I can see in the dark, all is safe," the vampire replied. "Nothing has appeared yet."

"This situation bears no trouble for us, but if you shine the fire trapped in your mechanical rectangle lantern, you will be able to see," Hyejoo explained from far away.

"Do you mean our phones?" Yeojin asked.

Chaewon scrambled around her pockets for her cellphone and finally pulled it out, turning on the flashlight. Yeojin's frown was barely visible with her goggles blocking the way, and the blonde turned around, trying to find the rest of the group. Heejin was still next to Yerim, not far away from the farthest wall from the entrance. Her friend turned on her flashlight, and Chaewon finally located the two last vampires. She looked down, almost forgetting to get the stupid diary.

"What do we do now?" Yeojin asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Heejin will have to capture the bird," Yerim repeated.

"Or maybe I won't!"

"Silence!"

Chaewon looked at Hyunjin, who had her hand raised towards them. She was looking around, whipping her head as if she was trying to find something. Yerim had also taken a defensive stance, and Hyejoo was standing still, her pointy teeth poking out of her mouth. The light reflected their coloured eyes, and Chaewon noticed that their irises had become slanted.

"Yeojin!"

Yerim moved first, almost too fast for Chaewon to see. The vampire was by Chaewon's side in a fraction of a second, and suddenly the blonde felt a weight being lifted off her shoulders. She flashed her light at her small friend, where Yerim was now standing, the silver sword in her hand. Under her horrified gaze, the woman slashed and fended off a large creature while pushing Yeojin away. Her friend was screaming in fear, her trembling hands clutching her wand belt. Chaewon's knees gave in, and she dropped to the ground, her shaking flashlight revealing the most gigantic, strangest and most angry bird she had ever seen. It was roughly around the size of their civic, with a beak lined with sharp teeth and a long, purple tongue. It rose its head in the air and screeched, the chilling sound reverbing around the cave.

"Yerim!" Hyejoo yelled, running towards her sister.

Yerim was letting out inhuman screeches and cries of pain as she stroke her sword down on the creature's back, making it squeak and retreat. Hyejoo slid next to her and rose an arm in protection. Yerim was panting loudly, and a fizzing sound came from her grip on the silver sword. Blood was dripping all around her, and Chaewon gulped.

"What is that thing?" Hyejoo asked.

"A protector, all of us can see it. It seems after the girl," Hyunjin answered, her eyes stuck on the enemy. "Heejin of Jeon! Have you located the bird?"

"There's a whole flock, and they're all white!" Her friend, exclaimed, panic evident in her voice.

Chaewon glanced back at Heejin, who was covering her face with her arms. If Heejin wasn't already a fan of ghosts, she was terrified of birds. It wasn't going to be easy.

"Hyunjin! Go help her, you can't overpower that thing!" Chaewon said, pulling on her shirt.

"But-"

"Heejin trusts you! Catching it might stop the monster!"

The vampire's golden eyes clouded with doubt, but she still ran to her friend and kneeled by her side. Chaewon returned her gaze to the battle, and she widened her eyes, stopping in her tracks. In Hyejoo's place was a gigantic wolf with silvery dark fur lunging at the hell bird, digging its teeth in the skin of its leg. The monster let out a howl of pain and shook its leg, hitting the wolf against a rock wall. Hyejoo squeaked as she let go of her hold and slid to the ground. Chaewon finally got another good look of the monster. It had multiple deep cuts and bruises, and the once white feathers were now stained with red blood.

The clang of metal hitting rock pulled her out of her observation, and Chaewon saw Yerim laying in a puddle of blood on the ground, spasms crossing her body. Yeojin was crying at her side, holding her head with her hands. The blonde rushed to the duo and put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"What happened?"

"She was screaming like she was tortured! The sword… it…" Yeojin blabbered, shakily pointing at Yerim's hands.

Chaewon looked down and quickly put a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes shut, swallowing the bile that had climbed up her throat. There was no more remaining skin on the vampire's palms and fingers, and only her bones were visible. A few had fallen out, no longer held by the melted muscles and other parts. It was her fault. She let the vampire take the sword and didn't do anything. Chaewon looked up, blinking hard to stop herself from crying, then turned her traumatized friend towards her and looked around in her bag for the diary. If one person could help her, it was Yeojin.

"There's a spell in there that can help, but you need to be willing to use magic."

"Anything, quick!"

Yerim's eyes had rolled in the back of her head, and she was letting out chocked sounds. Biting her lip, Chaewon handed the book to her friend so she could open it and quickly flipped through the pages until she landed on the spell.

"Suturis! You need to draw stitches with her blood and say that word."

"Okay! I can do this, you can do this Yeojin, oh my god," Yeojin said, trembling harder as she dipped her finger in Yerim's blood.

Chaewon looked back at Heejin, who was pointing at ghosts only she could see, and Hyunjin who was chasing after them. She heard them scream, the urgency of the situation making Heejin panic some more.

"Arh!"

Hyejoo went sliding next to Yeojin and stopped a few feet from them, grunting in pain. She was back in human form, her body cut and bruised all over. Her hoodie was practically destroyed, but she still had the strength to get up on her knees. Hyejoo crawled towards them, slowly taking her sister's head and putting on her lap. Blood was dripping from a cut on her cheek, and Chaewon unconsciously pushed her black hair away to examine the injury.

"Are you okay?"

"She took the sword with her bare hands, idiot."

"She saved Yeojin and gained some time," Chaewon replied, but her tone was weaker than she had hoped. "It was my fault. I should've reacted quicker. I don't know if she'll be able to heal on her own."

Hyejoo looked at her, eyes full of tears and Chaewon didn't know what to say. The giant broken bird screeched and started running at them, and Chaewon desperately looked at Heejin. She heard Yeojin chant the spell, and an orange light shone even bright than her phone.

"Hyunjin, that one!"

Then everything went silent.

***

Chaewon slowly opened one eye, then the other, but the monster had vanished in thin air as if it had never been there in the first place. The green balls of light had magically reappeared, so she pinched the skin of her hand and grimaced at the pain. It wasn't a dream. Hyejoo was still next to her, cradling her sister's head with her eyes closed. Chaewon looked down at Yerim's hands and gasped, surprised to find them restored.

"We got it! Are you guys hurt?" Heejin's voice rang in the cave.

"Jesus, can you stop screaming? My head hurts like hell," Yeojin replied, rubbing her temples.

Chaewon's smile turned into a chuckle, then into full-blown laughter of adrenaline relief. She clutched her stomach and shook her head at her friend's annoyed or concerned faces.

"Nerves," she managed to say in between laughs.

"I am glad you are unhurt," Hyunjin said, nodding at her.

She kneeled next to her sisters and took a look at Yerim, who was still unconscious. She curiously took one of her hands and examined it, feeling the touch with her fingers. Hyejoo carefully took it back from her and laid it on Yerim's stomach. In silence, Hyunjin looked at Yeojin with a curious look on her face. The poor girl had tear streaks all over her cheeks, and her eyes were red from crying, but she still huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Chaewon rolled her eyes at the sight of one of the plastic wands in her hand.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

"I wanted to say… "

Hyunjin clenched her jaw, and Chaewon frowned, expecting the worst.

"Thank you for relieving my sister of her pain."

Yeojin didn't say anything, but widened her eyes slightly and nodded, bringing her gaze back on the vampire laying down. Chaewon fell back on her back, a small smile on her face. Things had started shifting. For the better or the worst, she couldn't tell yet, but at least it was progress.

"That wasn't an illusion all right," Heejin said, scratching her head.

"Not at all. We will heal, but Yerim and I have taken quite some serious damage," Hyejoo agreed.

Chaewon was reminded that the vampire was just floating in rags, so she got rid of her pastel pink, fluffy coat and casually handed it to Hyejoo, grunting to attract her attention.

"Put this on, your hoodie is ripped."

"Thank you."

Chaewon had prepared a sneaky retort, so she was surprised that the woman just took the coat without arguing. Under a closer look, the vampire looked exhausted. Chaewon just hummed and got up, making sure to tap the blood out of cheeks. She almost stepped on a bright white object on the ground and picked up what looked like a bird. A bird?

"Heejin-"

"Hyunjin caught it! She has incredible instincts."

"Do not flatter me," Hyunjin grunted, but still, she smiled a little.

"Yeah,  _ that's _ not the problem. You can't just let important things laying around, idiot. What if I had stepped on it?"

"What are we gonna do with it?" Yeojin asked, drying her tears with the back of her hand. "If we bring the items with us, we could break or lose them. We should stash them somewhere."

"I think I know where we could put them."

Chaewon looked at Heejin.

"Where?"

"Oh, you'll see."

"Chaewon of Park."

The blonde looked at Hyejoo, who was standing next to the bloodied sword resting on the ground. She gulped and made her way to the vampire and picked up the weapon, replacing it in its sheath. Hyejoo nodded and looked at her without saying anything. At that moment, she looked more like a normal girl than a bloodthirsty monster. Chaewon looked down at her feet and tensed her jaw.

"Hyunjin is wrong. You are strong, Hyejoo. Just not in the same ways as her."

"You believe so?"

"Yeah."

"I also believe you are strong. Do not feel guilt, it was Yerim's choice to use the sword. It is not your fault."

Chaewon bit her lower lip and rubbed a hand over her eyes, trying her hardest to stop the tears from coming out.

"But-"

"She is still alive, right? That is all that matters. Without you, your friends would not have made it, and neither would she. They value your presence."

Chaewon chuckled and looked back at her friends. Yes, they were dumb and reckless, but she had decided to accompany them all the way. She didn't like to show it, but she really did like them.

"Yeah, I know."

***

"Is that… a dead bird?"

Chaewon looked down at the animal in her hands and pressed her lips together, nodding.

"Yes. Yes, it is."

"I will not have a dead… what is it? A dove? Anyways, no."

"But Jungeun-"

"Look, not only are you guys waking me up at 4 am, you're handing me a corpse. No thanks."

The trio was at the woman's doorstep, which was right above the restaurant. The only access was up wooden stairs to the side of the building, but they had had a hard time finding where it was in the pitch-black darkness. The vampires had returned to the castle, and Yeojin had made Hyunjin promise to take good care of Yerim until the next day they meet. Jungeun's brown hair was flying everywhere, and she was shooting them daggers. Chaewon couldn't blame her.

"Please, we need to keep it safe. It won't rot or anything, it's magic."

"That again?"

"We have footage proof. The green balls and the monster bird appear on the video," Heejin said, turning her GoPro towards the woman.

"Green balls and monster birds? No, guys, okay, I'll take your stupid bird, but come tomorrow for the proof or whatever. I just want to sleep."

"Thank you so much!" Yeojin exclaimed, her voice loud as ever as she readjusted the tissue stuck in her nose.

Of course, that idiot had tried running face-first into walls, thinking they were all illusions. She had found the right one at one point, but not after multiple crashes. Chaewon shook her head, still wondering how they were all still alive. She turned around and started going down the stairs, but the waitress cleared her throat loudly.

"How did it go in there? Anybody hurt too bad?"

They looked back at Jungeun, who was still leaning on the doorframe in pyjamas. The image of Yerim and Hyejoo flashed before her eyes, and Chaewon shook her head, chills running down her spine.

"It got taken care of."

Jungeun nodded and slowly went back inside, closing the door behind her. The trio walked down the stairs and back to the Honda Civic in silence. None of them was going to sleep well, that was for sure.

"At least we got the footage," Yeojin said as if she was reading her mind. "That'll pay the bills."


	8. Zelda's appointed knight (Link)

Yeojin yawned and looked down at her cellphone. 09:48 pm. Damn, they didn’t sleep a lot.

“Hoooooly shit.”

“No way! You guys totally killed it out there!” Jiwoo exclaimed, stars shining in her eyes.

“We really need you guys to keep it a secret, even to Vivi. Since the witches are back, one of them could be spying on you,” Heejin said, her brows frowned in concern. “That sounded kind of scary. Just don’t talk about it.”

Jungeun gave the cellphone back to Heejin and took a sip of her water. Her hands were shaking so much that she almost dropped the glass on the table, but she quickly put it back down. The YouTubers were sitting at a table in the restaurant, showing their friends their midnight adventure. Chaewon had spent the morning editing the footage since Yeojin had spent the night having nightmares and was too worn out to do the job. She had no idea if Yerim was okay or if…

Yeojin shook her head. No, she shouldn’t be thinking about that. She glanced at her blonde friend and saw the glint of guilt that hadn’t left her eyes. Yeojin didn’t think it was Chaewon’s fault that Yerim had ended up hurt, but the girl had muffled her sobs in her pillow all night and was partially part of the reason why Yeojin hadn’t slept.

As usual, the restaurant only had a couple patrons, but Jungeun had told them that a bit more people came during weekdays. Apparently, their village was a bus stop. Heejin had done some research about the place, but she had never told them about a bus stop. Maybe Jungeun was growing delusional from staying in this village for so long.

“How did you guys come back unhurt? Which one is holding the sword?” Jiwoo asked, tightly clasping her hands together on the table.

The waitress’s skin was as white as snow, and her eyes were wide open. She looked terrified, even if she tried her best to hide it with the wide smile plastered on her face. Yeojin grinned just a bit, confident that her offer of accompanying them had been rethought. The duo wouldn’t survive a night with the triplets.

“That would be Yerim,” Heejin said, pointing at the part of the video where the giant bird is dodging a flying sword. “She saved all of us.”

“She probably saved herself. We all know we messed up.”

The group looked at Chaewon, who had her arms crossed on the table and her gaze looking through the window. The somewhat hearty atmosphere fell, and they fell silent.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you stupid, Heejin? We were useless!” The blonde exclaimed, slamming her fists on the table. Yeojin blinked a few times, taken aback by the force of the blow. “Our only purpose is to carry that damn sword, and I couldn’t even help them with that!”

“We’re not useless-“

“Chaewon,” Jiwoo tried to say, but the other was on a rampage.

“Heejin, you didn’t even do your task! Hyunjin had to catch the damn bird FOR you! And what did Yeojin do? Nothing much, just  _ hiding  _ !”

“Guys-“Jungeun started. She didn’t get to finish, though.

“You’re just mad because YOU were useless! Without Heejin, we would’ve all died! And without me, Yerim could have lost her hands!” Yeojin exclaimed, jumping up from her seat. “At least we tried! It’s YOUR job to carry the sword, not ours!”

In her motion, she knocked her glass of water and spilt it all over the table, but no one paid it any attention. All eyes were on Chaewon to see how she would react to her call of truth. Her eyes were wide open, and her teeth were clenched, but she didn’t say a word. The water made its way to the edge of the table and slowly dripped unto the blonde’s skirt, but she didn’t react like stuck in time. 

Yeojin’s breathing started calming down, and she was about to apologize when Chaewon slowly got up and left, taking her bag with her. They all watched her go in silence, and Yeojin winced when she slammed the door. The group stayed still for a few seconds, their gaze stuck on the closed door.

“I should-“

“I wouldn’t,” Jungeun interrupted. “It would only make it worse. Give her a few minutes.”

Yeojin sat back down and sighed. It was mean of her to say that when Chaewon was really hurt by what happened to Yerim. When Yeojin though more about it, her friend probably felt left out. She was the only one that didn’t have some sort of magic power that could really help the vampires. Yeojin knew that in her place, she wouldn’t like that very much. She always hated being an only child, so she knew a thing or two about being left out.

“I’m gonna go take a walk.”

“Are you sure?” Jiwoo asked, furrowing her brows.

“Yeah, don’t worry. Heejin will entertain you with her clown tricks.”

“Hey!”

“See ya!”

Yeojin took her bag from the bench and waved at her friends before making her way to the restaurant door. The air was starting to get warmer, so she unzipped her hoodie and pushed the door, then walked down the street towards the entrance arch.

It was rare that people took her seriously. Still, when she put aside her hilarious and extravagant side, she was just a normal girl. Well, that could hear ghosts, but if you ignored that, then she was just a regular human with feelings. Chaewon had been wrong to lash out on them without thinking.

She read YouTube comments all day about how immature she was and how she should go to school and find a boyfriend. First of all, well, GAY??? Second, yes, she had dropped out of college, but! She was working towards her passion with her friends, and that was even better than school. Finally, she had a role. She was the funny friend, the one that makes dumb decisions and drags her friends with her. That’s how it works in the life of a YouTuber! In return, however, people took her for granted, just like Chaewon did.

She almost tripped on a cobblestone and stopped walking, having reached the arch. She leaned onto it, putting her arm up on the stone. Down the dirt road was the forest, and up towards the mountain was the castle. Yeojin didn’t understand why the locals hadn’t at least tried to sell or revamp (ha) it over the centuries. No one believed in vampires, so what was the deal? Outsiders disappearing? And? It wasn’t like the triplets ate them or something-

“Yeojin of Im!”

God, what now? Yeojin looked around, but no one was waving at her, or even there, for a matter of fact. She moved back inside the village and put a hand to shield her eyes from the light of the sun. Yep, she was alone. Was she hearing a ghost again?

“Yeah?” She called, trying her best to sound sane.

“Up here!”

The girl jumped back when she saw Hyejoo sitting at the top of the arch, smiling and waving at her. Today, she was wearing Chaewon’s white Nike t-shirt and some old dirty grey pants that weren’t part of their suitcases. Hyejoo motioned to come to join her and Yeojin frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

“How the hell do you want me to climb up there?”

“With your legs and arms!”

“Yeah, no. If you have a way to make me fly up there, then maybe I’ll consider.”

The vampire rolled her eyes and suddenly jumped from her spot up high, landing right next to Yeojin. The human slapped a hand on her heart, trying to contain her sudden heart attack. How were her feet still intact without any shoes on?

“What the hell?”

“I am sturdy, I will not die in such a lowly manner. Now, follow me.”

She quickly turned around and went to the right, in the alley between the fortified walls and the first two-stories house of the village. Yeojin wasted no time and followed her, readjusting her grip on her backpack. Where the hell was the vampire leading her to? Some sort of mini-trial? A ladder? A hidden elevator?

She turned the corner of the house, where Hyejoo was patiently waiting for her. The vampire smiled at her and waited for her to come to a stop by her side.

“When I was younger, my father would forbid us to go down to the village without guards. I hated the thought of being followed, hence why I would flee in secret. I have learned many fascinating things about this village, one of them being the upper view.”

She pointed at the wall, and Yeojin looked attentively. Sure enough, there were small crevasses large enough to fit part of a foot or a hand.

“No way, I’m not-“

Hyejoo didn’t wait for her and quickly climbed up like she was as light as a feather. She arrived in no time at the top and disappeared, leaving Yeojin alone in a slightly dark alley. She gulped and looked at the wall, braced herself, and slowly but surely put one hand in a crevasse.

“I am the best, I’m the best, I can kick your ass,” she said over and over, making sure to have a good grip on her hold.

Yeojin had climbed up a few houses before, but it was always with her friends or with adequate equipment or with, you know, big holes in the walls from decay. Trying to follow a vampire that could float wasn’t a safe option, but Yeojin wasn’t a pussy. She huffed and continued her climb, finally reaching the gutter. From there, a hand gripped her arm and pulled her up to the roof. Hyejoo was grinning at her, her other hand holding the chimney.

“You took longer than expected.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. What are we even doing?”

“Follow me.”

“What, again? “

The vampire ran up the ridge and jumped onto the next roof, landing flat on her bare feet, and continued running towards the next one, her black hair flying behind her. Did Yeojin like running? Not really. Did she think this situation was dangerous? Yeah, probably. Was she going to blindly follow the undead sister of her crush-uhhh friend? Yep.

She tightened her backpack straps and ran after Hyejoo, jumping over the edge of the roof. The next one was flat, so she maintained her balance and continued in a hurry. The space between the roofs wasn’t so far and allowed the girl to jump without worry. She finally reached Hyejoo, who bent over from her rooftop to drag her up. Yeojin sat on her butt and panted, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

“What are you even doing here? What’s with the Assassin’s Creed chase?”

Hyejoo just motioned for her to come closer (probably because she didn’t know what Assassin’s Creed was), so Yeojin rolled her eyes and complied. She crawled to the edge and looked down, surprised to see Jungeun throwing out the trash.

“We are sitting above the Owl’s Eye, which is one of the only things about this village that has not been changed.”

“Owl’s Eye? Do you mean the restaurant?”

“Another name for the tavern, of course,” Hyejoo agreed. “Sitting here brings back many memories.”

Yeojin tried her best to remain silent and try to appreciate whatever Hyejoo was trying to show her. Still, one question was burning the tip of her tongue.

“How are you out here in the sun? I thought it was deadly for vampires.”

Hyejoo grinned and ran a hand through her hair. “Where have you read such a lie? Nothing can stop me from hunting humans,” she said, showing her pointy teeth.

Yeojin gulped and scooted further away from her, unconsciously putting a hand around her neck.

“Funny haha, yep I’m laughing. Are you related to John Mulaney?”

“I did not intend on crossing path with you,” the vampire interrupted, ignoring her question. “I was clearing my head of thoughts when I saw your blonde friend run away from the tavern. Then you followed, and I thought of asking for your advice.”

“Advice? Me?”

Hyejoo nodded and, looking away, she scratched the back of her head.

“I need… I need your help to court Chaewon.”

Yeojin squinted her eyes, trying her best to remember what ‘court’ meant. The vampires used a lot of out-dated words that confused her, so she would check on her cellphone every time one of them spoke. She took her cellphone out of her bag and, checking if Hyejoo was looking, quickly typed the word on google translate.

“Wait, you like her?” Yeojin blurted out, her eyes wide open.

“Lower your tone!” Hyejoo hissed, her pointy canines showing through her lips.

Her pale face was now strangely pink, and her grey eyes were moving around as if she couldn’t focus on her. Yeojin started laughing and smacked her leg, trying her best to contain herself.

“This is gold! So that’s what you meant when you said you claimed her! It really was just that simple! To be honest, Heejin and I were sure you were gonna eat her or something-”

“Well? Will you aid me or not?” Hyejoo asked, frowning.

“Hell yeah! I’ve been waiting for this! Were you scared that Hyunjin or Yerim would get her first?”

“I know nothing of their romantic endeavours nor do I care, my subconscious simply… jumped out, as you would say.”

Yeojin blinked a few times, observing as Hyejoo’s cheeks became a dark pinkish colour. Was she serious?

“Girl, you literally came out to your sisters. Like, they know that you’re gay, now.”

“I am aware!” Hyejoo exclaimed, shoving her face in her hands.

“Did y’all talk about it? Are you in a safe living situation?”

“Just help me!”

Yeojin suddenly became serious and glanced at the vampire, readjusting her backpack straps.

“I need to know something first. Is she… How… is Yerim doing?”

Hyejoo rose her head to look down at the fountain as if lost in thoughts. Yeojin inhaled loudly and looked down at her hands on her lap, trying her best to stop her eyes from filling up with tears. Was the woman really dead? Had she failed to save her?

“She is alive if that is what you are asking.”

Yeojin exhaled and fell back on the roof, all stress washing away instantly. She was okay. Yerim was safe.

“She cannot stop blabbering about you. All morning I had to listen to her praise your magic and boast about how amazing you were. Annoying, really.”

“Yooo, for real?” The human asked, blushing. “I was totally in control, I knew she was gonna be okay hahaha.”

Hyejoo rolled her eyes and bumped her shoulder against hers, and Yeojin smiled, noting that she seemed more friendly.

“Now tell me what to do for Chaewon to fall in love with me.”

“Well, first you gotta listen carefully. Every time and I say EVERY TIME, she says something, you slide your hand on your neck like you’re chopping your head off and you say ‘period, queen’. Okay?”

Hyejoo copied the movement, making sure to slide her sharp nails along her jugular.

“Period queen.”

“Perfect, you’re a natural. Now for lesson two-“

_ Bzzz bzzz. _

Yeojin frowned as she grabbed her cellphone, trying to see who was texting her during such a dire moment in her life.

** Tech support <3:  ** im sorry i acted like a dick earlier, I just felt like shit for what happened to yerim :/

** simp: ** yooo don’t worry about it your cool fam, we all fuck up sm times… but can y’all come back now?? Jiwoo s been going on about her granny’s karate skills and now im getting self consious about my high kicks

** Tech support <3:  ** y’all???

** Amazing, show-stoping, never the same: ** be here in a sec, got lost again

“What are you doing?” Hyejoo asked, leaning over her shoulder.

“Texting Heejin and Chae. It’s like I’m writing stuff on a piece of paper that we can all see at the same time.”

“Incredible. Your machines never seem to stop to surprise me.”

Yeojin smiled and put her hand on her hips, shooting the vampire a happy frown.

“I need to leave. We have to prepare for the trial of tonight.”

“Oh, understood. Thank you for your advice.”

“I have another one for you, though.”

Yeojin looked at the fountain a few corners away from the restaurant and grimaced, trying to organize her thoughts before saying them to Hyejoo. She was prone to being brutally honest, which could, in return, put her in precarious situations. Who knew what could tick off a vampire?

“You need to pay attention to her.”

“Chaewon? But I do, I even found what the word prick means,” the woman said, smiling as she put her hands on her hips. “It is an insult, a synonym for ‘dick’.”

“More than that. You need to analyze her reaction to things you or people say. You need to know what makes her smile and what puts a frown on her face. I don’t know how it worked in the 1600s-“

Yeojin stopped talking when she noticed that Hyejoo was looking away and tapping her hands on her legs. The human pressed her lips together and carefully put a hand on Hyejoo’s shoulder. The vampire was all stiff.

“I am not well induced in the knowledge of… other people. It was always easier to distance myself from them.”

She jerked her head towards Yeojin, and the girl couldn’t help but feel bad for her. The vampire’s usual grin had fallen flat, and her shining grey eyes were full of some kind of emotion Yeojin had a hard time recognizing.

“I have never felt so attracted to someone. I want to cherish this feeling, but I foresee only pain will come forth. Do you honestly think I can do it? If we manage to lift the curse, then could I pursue this relationship with her?”

Yeojin frowned. From what she understood, Hyejoo had ZERO confidence in her seducing skills. It was honestly a bit surprising, considering the fact that her charisma roll was the highest among her sisters. Chaewon was a bit hard to read, but Yeojin knew that Hyejoo had caught her attention. Why was she making a big deal out of it?

“You’ll be fine! Now how do we get down? I can’t just jump, I’ll break my neck.”

Hyejoo huffed and rolled her eyes, but she still looked around and pointed down.

“It would be too dangerous to land in front of the tavern. There is an alley on the left, let us jump there.”

“Hold on, jump?”

Yeojin squeaked as the vampire suddenly grabbed her and carried her potato-bag style and jumped. For a few seconds, Yeojin travelled back to that one time they went in that one hunted hotel in South Carolina. Heejin had had the brilliant idea of ‘surprising’ the ghost (if you couldn’t tell, it was one of their first YouTube videos) by climbing by the window. Of course, Yeojin had volunteered as tribute and had been attached with some rope in case she fell.

She did, in fact, fall. Who in their right might would try to climb up an outside wall in the pouring rain?

Yeojin was feeling the same then at that moment like her life was totally out of her control. But this time, something more than a simple rope was keeping her alive. Hyejoo landed swiftly on her feet and sat her down on the cobblestones, then dusted her shoulders like she didn’t just drop from thirty feet.

“Well, you have arrived. The ticket will be two shillings, please.”

“Chillings? I thought you liked Chaewon!” Yeojin exclaimed, putting a hand on her mouth.

“God, will I ever say something that makes sense to you?” Hyejoo grunted. “Never mind. Just go. Your friends are coming.”

“How do you know-“ Yeojin started, but she was interrupted by Heejin yelling out her name.

“Yeojin! Where are you?”

“Right here! I’m just talking with…”

When Yeojin turned to look at the vampire, she had disappeared into thin air, leaving her sitting like an idiot in the middle of an alleyway. Heejin turned the corner of the restaurant and grinned when she found her.

“What are you doing there?”

“Nothing, I guess.”

The girl grabbed Heejin’s hand and was brought up to her feet. They both returned to the front of the restaurant, where Chaewon was waiting for them. Before following them back to the car, however, Yeojin looked up at the roof where she was just a few seconds ago. Hyejoo was there, hiding behind a chimney. Their gazes met, and Hyejoo grinned before disappearing again.


	9. Trial of the mind: Toboggan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, I am so sorry for the delay. I was failing three classes and had to catch up, then Christmas happened, and now I have to extinguish a few fires for the next couple days. Next update might be a bit late, but I'll try hard to come back with a decent posting schedule.
> 
> Anyways, here you go, hope you enjoy!
> 
> (I have seen your tweets, don't worry lmao, I'm not stopping the story)
> 
> ***

“Heejin, come here, quick.”

“What?”

Yeojin looked around to make sure that Chaewon was out of ear reach. Once again, they were making their way inside the castle, where the blonde had already reached the throne room. She had made sure that the Gopros™ were ready and running not to miss anything tonight, but mostly for what was to come. Yeojin grabbed Heejin’s shirt and pulled her back and immediately silenced her with a finger to her lips. Heejin frowned, but she stayed still, growing more curious as to what Yeojin wanted to tell her.

“Hyejoo either has mommy issues or is into bimbos.”

“What?”

“She likes Chaewon.”

Heejin blinked and stayed still for a few seconds, the time for the information to be processed, and then smacked her hand on her mouth.

“No.”

“Hell yeah, partner. You know the claim thing? Well…”

“No! Oh my God, this is gold!” Heejin exclaimed, her grin stretched out on her face. “You owe me fifty bucks, by the way.”

“Can you guys hurry up? We’re all waiting for you!” Chaewon’s voice echoed through the hall, bringing them back to their feet in the crumbling castle.

The two looked at each other, trying their best not to explode in laughter, and made their way to the group. As usual, the vampires were sporting some of their clothes, Hyejoo wearing the fluffy pink jacket Chaewon had given her, and, surprisingly, Yerim had her hair tied in a ponytail.

Speaking of Yerim, Yeojin froze up when her eyes landed on her. The vampire was as radiant as ever, her big goofy grin like acting like shining a light in the dark room. The vampire was currently talking to Chaewon, but when she saw the duo arrive, she stopped and beamed at them, making Yeojin’s heart beat a little faster.

“Yeojin!”

“I’m so under-appreciated,” Heejin sighed, shaking her head. “Whatever. Hi Hyunjiiiiin!”

Yerim ran towards Yeojin and engulfed her in a big hug, almost throwing both of them to the ground.

“Thank you so much! You saved me!”

“O-Oh, not really-“

“No, take a look!”

Yerim rose her hands to her face, where they seemed perfectly normal, with no scar whatsoever. Yeojin squinted her eyes and carefully her fingers on the vampire’s hands, but as Yerim said, they were totally fine.

“I fainted before I could take a better look at them, but from what Hyejoo told me, my bones were falling out. I do not know if my regenerative power could have helped me, hence why I am so grateful.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t so cool to look at,” Yeojin agreed, a chill running through her spine as the memory flashed before her eyes. “B-By the way, I like your ponytail.”

Yerim rose her hand to her hair, combing through her hair with a little smile.

“You think so?”

“Yeah, but you’re pretty whatever you do-“

Yeojin slapped a hand on her mouth while Yerim just smiled brightly and took her hand in hers.

“Thank you, that is so nice of you to say! In truth, I was afraid that sleeping for four hundred years would mark me, but thanks to you and your friends, I feel just fine.”

“Yeah, no problemo buddy!” Yeojin exclaimed, and Heejin made sure to send her a disapproving glance. Yeojin would have to delete that footage later…

“Can we go back to the trials, now?” Chaewon said, raising her voice so that everyone would hear her.

Yeojin glanced at Hyejoo, who was trembling in… well, what Yeojin hoped was anticipation. She gave her a look, and Hyejoo nodded before turning her gaze back on the blonde.

“Period, queen.”

She slid her fingers on her neck, and Yeojin quickly pointed her camera at her friend to gage her reaction. Chaewon widened her eyes as if she couldn’t believe what the vampire had just said, then put her hands on her hips and frowned.

“Who taught you that?”

“No one.”

“As if.”

Yeojin shook her fist in victory, and Hyejoo shot her a proud smile.

“Holy shit, did you just say period, queen?” Heejin exclaimed. “Are you perhaps…”

She rose her hand and let her wrist fall limply, and Yeojin had to look away not to explode in laughter.

***

Yeojin hung unto Yerim’s arm, trying her best not to look down. They were relatively high up, so much that the village’s lights were shining through the low clouds and shielding them from potential onlookers. Hyunjin was holding the diary, flipping through the pages in search of the next instructions. For their part, Hyejoo and Chaewon were somewhat getting along, the blonde still curious about how the vampire knew so much about slangs.

“Hey mamas.”

“Don’t  _ ever _ say that to me again.”

“Period, queen.”

“And you need to stop saying that.”

“Of course, slay-“

“Trial of the Mind,” Hyunjin read out-loud, gathering the group around her. “This trial will lead you to Sooyoung, the witch of flight. You must be careful, Choerry. Sooyoung is a master of riddles, and she is quite cunning. Her labyrinth is full of tricks, you must not fall prey to her traps. The entrance is through an opening in the mountainside. Completing her trial will give you her red apple. Good luck.”

“What does she mean, good luck? This is the scariest thing I’ve ever heard!” Yeojin exclaimed, tightening her grip on Yerim.

“Let’s just go in, it’s freezing out here,” Heejin huffed, pushing through towards the tunnel leading inside the mountain. 

“Try not to wet your pants on your way in!” Yeojin exclaimed.

_ Since when is Heejin the brave one? _

Hyunjin walked past her and shot Yeojin a glare, then closed the book and followed Heejin. Chaewon was next, and she grinned while bumping Yeojin in the shoulder.

“Looks like Hyunjin claimed Heejin. Maybe you should watch your tone with her.”

“As if!”

Chaewon smiled and shrugged, then entered the tunnel with Hyejoo following behind her. The girl sighed, ready to follow them, but Yerim stayed still. Yeojin frowned and looked up at her friend, then followed her gaze to Chaewon, or more specifically, her sword.

“Just don’t use it, this time,” she said, but that didn’t stop the vampire from sighing.

“My animal form is pathetic, and I barely know a few spells. I am sorry, I feel somewhat ashamed, really,” the woman explained, lowering her head. “Hyejoo can be a wolf, Hyunjin is quick and strong, and I am only myself. Even as a vampire, I am still not strong enough.”

Yerim sighed as Yeojin’s heart fell. She had spent more time thinking about benefiting from this YouTube series than how the girl was feeling. In her mind, being a vampire was the coolest thing ever, but Yerim had to push herself even more to stay to her crazy sisters’ level. Now, Yeojin was the one that felt ashamed. It seemed like the sisters all had some confidence issues.

“We wouldn’t be here without you, you know,” Yeojin said carefully. “Yeah, you guys are scary, and we followed you so you wouldn’t hurt the villagers, but your words rang through to us back in the hotel, when we first met. People of this time have a popular proverb: Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Yeojin.”

“No, you don’t get it,” the girl interrupted, shaking her head. “Hellen Keller said that.”

“Who?”

“She was deaf and blind, so she knew what she was talking about. Look, alone, I would never have dealt with the ghost voices I hear, but with Chaewon and Heejin, I can use it to do great things. This is the same with your sisters, y’all need to start working together towards your goal. If not, you’ll never succeed. You’re the only one that can unite them, so that means  _ you’re _ the main character. Plus, Jinsoul counts on you.”

The vampire looked at Yeojin for a few moments without saying anything, then smiled and walked past her inside the tunnel.

“You are wiser than you appear, Yeojin.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“Quickly, let us go join the others. You do not want to stay on that ledge the whole night, do you?”

The human quickly jumped away from the kilometre drop and ran inside the tunnel, following Yerim. While walking behind her friend, she set her mind on today’s goal: to make the sisters work together, Hyejoo and Hyunjin had to mend whatever relationship they had. They would then work to accept Yerim even if she was kinda the reason they were cursed. Was that potentially impossible to do? Not in her book!

***

It was calm, a bit too calm for Yeojin’s liking. They had been walking in complete silence for a good ten minutes now, and she was growing more and more bored, but Yeojin bit the inside of her cheek and stayed put. She looked up, flashing her light where the tunnel’s rock walls curved to merge at the top, forming a smooth arch that ran for a few meters up ahead before vanishing into the darkness. Good thing they thought to bring the flashlights this time. A gust of wind blew so cold that it went through her coat, and Yeojin crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her arms. Maybe they should have read the diary before climbing up the mountain with only jackets. She glanced at the trio of immortal, walking barefoot on the stone ground—a _ bunch of weirdos. _

“There’s one thing that’s been on my mind for a day now,” Chaewon suddenly said, destroying the perfect silence they had going on. “How are witches born? Haseul has horns, Jinsoul has totally black eyes, and Sooyoung has  _ wings,  _ for God’s sake! How did their moms pop them out and not like, give them to the animal shelter?”

“I’d like to know too,” Heejin agreed, and Yeojin noticed her clinging unto Hyunjin. Maybe she wasn’t all that after all.

The oldest vampire frowned and pushed her hair behind her shoulder, smacking Heejin in the process. Karma, perhaps?

“Not much is known about those demons. We do not know the full extent of their power, nor how they acquired it. Humans and witches have never seen eye to eye.”

“Then why is the witch circle so close to the village?” Yeojin asked, frowning.

She looked down at the ground and kicked a pebble that was in the way. The air had become much colder now, and Yeojin couldn’t help but bend down to rub her legs to hurry the blood flow. When she looked back up, the vampires were looking at each other incredulously.

“We do not know,” Hyejoo answered, but her tone was questioning as if it just occurred to her that things weren’t making sense.

“Jinsoul wrote in her diary that she came to the village and met with humans,” Yerim added, and Heejin quickly took the diary from her bag and flipped the pages. “That’s right, here she even listed a grocery list.”

“That does not- That cannot be,” Hyunjin mumbled, rubbing a hand on her mouth. “Somehow, my memory is blurry. I cannot remember a single thing pertaining to the witches.”

“What about you two?” Chaewon asked, motioning towards the younger sisters, but both shrugged.

“Neither can I. My disdain for them is indeed immense, but I cannot remember a time where these women roamed free, and I am sure I would have remembered.”

“Jungeun would know,” Heejin said. “Her family’s lived the village forever. I’m sure she has an old legend in her pocket.”

“Right, well, we could ask her when we come b-oop,” Chaewon tried to say but was quickly interrupted by her leg sliding to the side.

Yeojin felt herself slide and crouched down, trying her best to grab unto something. The ground looked exactly like before, a dark grey from the stone it was made from, but the girl couldn’t stop slipping.

“Yo, what the hell is this?”

“Ice, it seems,” Yerim answered with a smile as she slid by.

The vampire managed to grab unto the wall, stop herself from going any further, and lend her hand to Yeojin. The girl quickly grabbed it and was pulled into Yerim’s arm, which of course made her blush. But not because she thought that Yerim was cute,  _ not _ that she thought she was cute! Being close to a vampire was bad for the nerves! Yeojin gulped loudly and looked to the side. Chaewon had planted her sword in the ground, and Hyejoo was grabbing her by the foot to stop herself from sliding. For her part, Heejin was beckoning Hyunjin to transform while they were both sliding towards the end of the tunnel.

“What are you waiting for? We could really use your claws!”

“Will you calm down? I cannot transform at will! Magic is harder to control than it seems.”

They hadn’t noticed that the ground had started to tilt, and with it covered by transparent ice, they were all sliding towards who-knows-what. Hyunjin was desperately planting her nails in the ice, but with Heejin’s weight, she couldn’t get a good grip.

“Chaewon, get us closer,” Hyejoo ordered, glancing at her sister and the human.

The blonde nodded and unplanted the sword, resuming their sliding. They managed to catch up to the duo and Chaewon quickly smashed the blade back into the rock. Hyunjin grabbed unto Hyejoo’s pants, effectively stopping their fall.

“Man, that thing acts like Excalibur!” Yeojin whispered, impressed by the sturdiness of the blade.

“You saved us! Thank you!” Heejin exclaimed with a wide smile.

“We just started this trial, we can’t die right now,” Chaewon answered seriously. “Yeojin, can you flash a light down that way? I don’t wanna slide down the mountain or into some kind of trap.”

Yeojin carefully took her flashlight from her bag, trying her best to stay still so Yerim wouldn’t drop her. She clicked on the button and squinted her eyes, the harsh light forcing her to blink a few times before taking a better look. The slope was getting steeper, almost like a straight drop into…

“Maaaaaan, are those rock spikes? Can’t we have nice things, for once?” Yeojin exclaimed, smacking her free hand on her forehead. “Sooyoung is really out there trying to kill us on the first round.”

“She can fly, a sliding trap would not affect her, the wretched witch,” Hyejoo spat.

“Well, how are we going to get out of here?” Chaewon asked. “It’s becoming harder to hold three people.”

Her eyebrows frowned, and she kept readjusting her grip on the sword. Yeojin looked at Yerim, who was making the same face. Her hand holding onto the wall was trembling, and Yeojin felt her grip on her loosen. The girl looked under her feet, then at the rock beside them, and an idea started to form in her mind.

“Yerim, you need to fly down to see if there’s some sort of exit,” Yeojin said.

“But you-“

“I’m fine, I’ll hold on the crack in the rock. Chaewon can’t take it for much longer, and neither can you.”

Yerim looked over at the blonde and sighed, but she nodded and helped the human get her hand up the small crevasse in the stone. Yeojin had somewhat of a grip, but enough to hold her.

“Are you holding on?”

“I’ll be fine!”

The vampire nodded and let go of her grip on the wall, sliding down the tunnel faster and faster, until Yeojin blinked and saw a bat flying around the spikes.

“God, do you guys eat rocks for dinner?” Chaewon grunted, sweat drops rolling down her forehead. “I swear, it feels like I have a ball and chains tied to my feet.”

“Period, queen.”

“Have you considered hitting the gym? Maybe your limp arms could actually be useful,” Heejin replied, dangling her feet in the observable void. “On the bright side, the viewers will  _ have _ to believe us. Without Hyunjin and Hyejoo, I would be falling right now.”

“How does your device work? Why is it that we disappear?” Hyunjin asked, taking a peek at the Gopro™ tied around Heejin’s head.

“It’s like a mirror, the camera doesn’t reflect you guys,” the woman explained. “The weird thing is that our clothes disappear with you, but not objects you hold for a short time. We managed to film Yerim holding a rock, the other day!”

Hyunjin frowned and twisted her mouth into a grimace as if everything Heejin had just say went r/woosh, over her head. Yerim came back and landed on the blade of the sword and transformed back, Heejin’s overly large sweatpants shielding her from the burn. Her weight didn’t seem to bend the sword, just like that time Hyejoo had balanced her weight on the throne. It was possible that they could control their mass, but to be sure, Yeojin made sure the GoPro strapped to her chest was pointing at the line of people.

“There is a hidden entrance down there, but you would have to slide down and walk above the spikes. They are too close together to weave a path between them.”

“Aaaand we are going to die,” Hyunjin sighed. “It is amazing that we have made it this far.”

“You’re such a Debby downer!” Heejin exclaimed. “We can’t let these witches win!”

She puffed her cheeks and started looking in her bag, her hand still holding Hyunjin’s jeans belt loop. No one spoke as Heejin moved her hand around in her bag, Hyunjin was even looking curiously while readjusting her grip on her sister.

“What are you doing?” Yeojin finally asked, flashing her light at her.

“Hold on, give me a sec… Here!”

She pulled out a coil of rope and smiled widely, pointing it at Chaewon.

“With this, we can totally go down.”

“Fantastic idea, Heejin!” Yerim exclaimed, smiling back. “We can tie it to the sword and go down unharmed.”

“But then what about the sword?” Chaewon asked. “With the momentum of the fall, you won’t be able to plant it in time.”

“Not to worry, I will fly up and retrieve it,” the vampire explained.

“Who knew that Idaho was so dangerous,” Yeojin said, glancing back down at the death drop.

Heejin untied the rope and gave it to Hyunjin, who gave it to Hyejoo, who gave it to Chaewon who gave it to Yerim. The woman tied it to the hilt of the sword and threw it down the drop. Chaewon grunted as she put the inside of her elbow on the grip and pulled them all a bit higher. Hyunjin held Heejin by the arm and helped her grab the rope, then looked at her directly in the eyes.

“Be not afraid. Curl your coat around the rope and let yourself slide down.”

“But when I get to the bottom? The spikes will still be there.”

“She’s right,” Yeojin said, frowning. “How are we going to reach the tunnel? She can’t really jump from the wall.”

“She will have to use magic and make a path for all of us,” Hyunjin said.

Wait, did Yeojin hear that right? Was  _ Hyunjin _ suggesting they used magic? Heejin’s mouth became a straight line as she glanced down, then up at the vampire. Her face had become pale, and she gulped audibly, loud enough to make Yeojin uncomfortable.

“But I don’t know if I can, I’ve never tried it before, maybe I need something life-threatening like a giant bird to trigger some sort of reaction, and-“

“Heejin of Jeon, stop talking.”

Heejin closed her mouth, and Hyunjin brought her closer to her.  _ Well, isn’t that very sus, _ Yeojin thought, smiling as Heejin’s face went red.

“I despise the witches for what they have done, but knowing Yerim, Yeojin and yourself, I have seen that magic can be used for good purposes. You only have to believe in yourself, and I assure you that you will find a way for us to reach the tunnel.”

“Hyunjin…”

Yeojin was sure that she had seen that kinda scene in a romance anime a few times. All that was missing was floating flowers and Hyunjin’s hand on Heejin’s chin-

“That’s cool, but can y’all hurry up a bit? We don’t have all night,” Chaewon said, interrupting Yeojin’s train of thoughts.

“Period, queen. Heejin, go down the rope.”

“Fine, fine! I’m going!” The woman exclaimed.

She hung unto the rope and, with a last sigh, slid down slowly. It really was excruciating to watch, as Heejin kept stopping every five seconds to make sure that she wasn’t going to impale herself. Finally, she reached the bottom, her feet hovering five centimetres above the spikes. Yeojin’s hand had become sweaty, and her grip on the rock was becoming slippery.

“Hurry up!” She screamed at her friend, who replied with a middle finger.

From up there, it was hard to see Heejin’s face, but Yeojin imagined that it was probably scrunched in concentration. For her part, Yeojin had no idea what to do. She knew that she could heal wounds (with the help of magic words), but other than that… what could Heejin possibly do?

“Yerim, could you check in the book for something useful?” Yeojin asked the vampire.

“You have it in your possession, but if you throw it to me, then I could take a look.”

“Great.”

Yeah, maybe she hadn’t thought it through. She was already holding a flashlight with one hand, and the other was stuck holding onto the wall.

“Think about it, Heejin! What’s something that we use to go from one place to the other?” Chaewon asked.

“Stairs!”

“Nah, that would be hard to make. It’s not like we have plywood lying around.”

“Oh my God, Chae, that’s it!” The woman exclaimed, and the two other humans glanced at each other curiously.

“Uh, yeah?”

“A plywood board, but with rocks! I got this!”

“Yeojin film that,” Chaewon said. “If she fails, I want blackmail material.”

“You’re so evil,” Yeojin replied as she turned her camera towards Heejin.

All she had to do was believe in herself. Yeojin looked at Hyunjin, who was literally digging a hole into Heejin’s head with her eyes. The vampire would really benefit from a visit to an emotions management clinic. However, Hyunjin’s yellow eyes were filled with… hope. It was strange to see the woman in that state, as she was usually two seconds away from decapitating her. Yeojin sighed, a small smile rising at the corner of her lips. Maybe she wasn’t so bad.

A bright pink hue slowly came from around Heejin’s body, and Yeojin looked down, widening her mouth. Heejin had closed her eyes and was waving a hand around, somehow melting the spikes into a flat surface. Her dark hair was floating around her as if she was underwater, and Yeojin wondered if she looked that cool healing Yerim. The light slowly vanished, and Heejin opened her eyes, then slid down to the flat surface she had created.

“DID Y’ALL SEE THAT?”

“Hell yeah bitch! We’re coming down!” Yeojin exclaimed with a wide smile.

“Motherfucker I felt like Spider-man! Like whoosh, silk flowing through my veins!”

“That’s not how it works!” Yeojin replied.

Hyunjin blinked a couple times but didn’t say anything as she grabbed the rope and slid down next to Heejin. Hyejoo was next, and when she was standing on the rock-tangle, she smacked Heejin’s upper back with a smile.

“Finally, a break,” Chaewon exhaled, rolling her eyes.

“It is your turn, Chaewon,” Yerim said, smiling at her. “Our group is powerful, I am certain that Sooyoung’s next traps will be easily beaten.”

“Yeah, as if.”

The blonde took the rope and slid down, then the vampire looked at Yeojin. Heejin had opened her own flashlight, so Yeojin pointed hers towards Yerim, making her purple eyes shine. It had only been a few days, but already Yeojin considered the vampire in front of her as human as she was. She was gonna find a way to break the curse, she silently promised. Yeojin smiled, and Yerim smiled back.

“Now, jump.”

Yeojin blinked once, twice, and a third time.

“Huh?”

“Well, you need to reach the rope.”

Maybe Yeojin was a bit wrong about Yerim’s humanity. A good two meters (and a half? Yeojin was never that good at math) of ice was between her and the rope. If she added the weight of her bag to her pitiful past experiences of jumping from one tough spot to another… she was sure to fail.

“Hurry up, Yeojin! We need the finish the trial before sunrise!” Heejin exclaimed with her hands around her mouth.

“I know, I know!”

Maybe she should have called in sick today.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave a comment or a kudo if you enjoyed!


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